A group of private companies called the Digital FMI Consortium would start Stablecoin Payments in October and keep it going for at least a year.
A group of private companies called the Digital FMI Consortium said it plans to test international Stablecoin Payments using its own stablecoin, dSterling, which is backed by sterling and will be used to make suggestions to the Bank of England.
A press release said that the “Project New Era” pilot would begin in October and run for 12 to 24 months. The Bank of England and other regulators will get white papers and suggestions from the 15-20 people who are part of Digital FMI. Stablecoin Payments are digital currencies that are designed to keep their value in relation to another asset, usually the U.S. dollar.
Rishi Sunak, who wants to be prime minister, said in April that the U.K. wants to become a “crypto hub.” At the time, he was chancellor of the exchequer, the government’s top finance minister. The Bank of England said last November that it was looking into the possibility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Casey Larsen, a director at Farrant Group, which handles the consortium’s communications, reported that “Rather than the central bank coming to the private sector and incorporating private sector advice about CBDC development, this is an entirely private sector-led initiative that will provide data and policy recommendations to regulators and the Bank of England.”
One of the consulting firms that Digital FMI works with is Boston Consulting Group. The Payments Association also backs it; an industry group made up of Visa, Diners Club, and some of the UK’s biggest banks and accounting firms.
Kunal Jhanji, a managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, said, “With the rise of DLT [distributed ledger technology] and blockchain technology, digital assets are ushering in a new era for money, which could have huge benefits for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and states.”
