What is central bank digital currency?
Central bank digital currency (CBDC) is money that a central bank, like the Bank of England, can produce. It’s called digital (or electronic) because it isn’t physical money like notes and coins. It is in the form of an amount on a computer or similar device.
We are looking closely at whether we should introduce a central bank digital currency in the UK and how it might work if we did. People sometimes describe this possible UK digital currency as ‘digital sterling’ or ‘Britcoin’. We have not made a decision to introduce one, so it hasn’t got a name, but a CBDC is not a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.