BOE governor destroys crypto and stablecoins in favor of 'enhanced digital currency'

An "enhanced" retail CBDC or digital currency would support singleness of money and finality of settlement, says Andrew Bailey , but crypto is not money .

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Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England (BOE), gave a speech on July 10 in which he smoothly transitioned from the central bank's efforts to control inflation and maintain public confidence in the financial institutions to why cryptocurrencies are not money. Instead of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, he would prefer "enhanced digital money".

The spate of bank failures in the United States and Switzerland earlier this year exposed issues of singleness of money and finality of settlement, Bailey said. Cryptocurrencies and stablecoins fail basic tests of uniqueness and settlement finality, he said, without giving further details. "They're not money," Bailey said. Passage of the Financial Services and Markets Act would bring stablecoins in line, however.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said inflation is expected to fall "significantly" this year and the full impact rate hikes has yet to reach the economy https://t.co/kntdoEKYPr

— Bloomberg Economics (@economics) July 10, 2023

Digital currency, as it already exists, "entirely held in computer systems", could be improved to become "a unit of currency to which it is possible to attach many more executions...