There is a likelihood that later this year (2018) the British will discover whether their central bank will issue their own cryptocurrency, as the Bank of England is considering the possibility of launching a digital currency linked to the pound sterling.

According to the report of the British newspaper Telegraph, the Bank of England (BoE) has established a research unit in this regard that expects to publish its results in the next 12 months.

The issue of a cryptocurrency by the British central monetary institution could place England in the face of a new adoption scenario, signifying the possible opening of the country to cryptoeconomy, a fact for which they have been preparing for a couple of months, according to representatives of government agencies.

The possibilities that the creation and/or issuance of a cryptocurrency by the British state could unfold are infinite at this point, since the information is scarce. However, there is the certainty that if this were to happen, British citizens would have access to benefits such as the security, transparency and speed of transactions carried out, in theory, which are the foundations of any blockchain platform. Doubts still prevail over certain aspects of this network, such as whether it will be decentralised or whether it will be public or private, facets that are much debated in the legal and traditional banking spheres.

With this announcement, it is necessary to underscore the growing interest of some nations and their central banks to issue their own cryptocurrencies -in the case of Russia and Venezuela-, a premise supported by the words of the Governor of the Bank of England, Dr. Mark Carney, who declared that he has been participating in various conversations with the most important central banks of the world on the subject.

In the particular case of England, Dr. Carney pointed out that his country has a previous interaction linked to cryptocurrencies, referring to the successful tests carried out with blockchain technology during 2017, when the supervisory body of financial conduct developed a blockchain-based application for mortgage loans.

The United Kingdom made several approaches to the technology that supports cryptocurrencies during 2017, as its parliament, the Department of Labor and Pensions, the Ministry of Justice and even former Prime Minister David Cameron considered and tested blockchain technology to address public sector problems such as social services, evidence verification and corruption.

Regarding the research that will determine the creation of a cryptocurrency driven by the Central Bank of England, there is still time to wait to see how this exploration will be conducted; as well as the debate on the creation of a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and blockchain.