Digital pound news

Find out about the latest updates for a digital pound here.

Latest news

We have opened applications for Phase 2 of the Digital Pound Lab, an experimental platform for industry to test use cases and assess the viability of potential business models for a digital pound. We are also looking for participants to undertake a digital pound case study which will help us explore how the digital pound could impact companies integrating it alongside traditional payment methods.

In March 2026, we published an update on the digital pound project outlining our continued progress in the design phase of the digital pound project over the course of the past year. Our policy work and experimentation on a range of topics relevant to retail payments innovation is helping to shape a future in which households and businesses can choose between different forms of money, confident that they can use and move their money safely within a trusted multi money system. We will announce our decision on whether to proceed with a digital pound in 2026, alongside the publication of the digital pound blueprint and joint assessment by the Bank and HM Treasury. 

In October 2025, we published an update on the design phase of the digital pound project. We are currently developing a detailed blueprint, supported by practical experimentation through the Digital Pound Lab and ongoing stakeholder engagement. The findings will support a joint assessment by the Bank and HM Treasury, ahead of a decision on next steps in 2026.

The first digital pound progress update was published in January 2025. This update summarises work over the past year, including how it relates to the evolving payments landscape, such as the recently announced National Payments Vision.

In January 2024, the Bank and HM Treasury published our response to the consultation on a digital pound. We received thousands of responses from households and businesses. The Bank also responded to the Technology Working Paper.

In February 2023, the Bank and HM Treasury published a consultation paper on The digital pound: a new form of money for households and businesses? This paper analyses the public policy case for the digital pound in the UK and sets out our proposed design for it. We also published a Technology Working Paper alongside it. This paper looks at the technical aspects of the model we are considering, including performance, security, resilience, and energy use.

Technical publications

Design notes

Design notes set out the Bank’s emerging thinking on specific topics related to a digital pound. These notes explore matters we are considering during the design phase for a digital pound, on which we wish to give stakeholders visibility of our emerging thinking.

This design note explores how digital pound account aliases could enhance retail payments and the Bank’s potential role in enabling such a service. 

The design note explains how the digital pound could support deferred offline payments, which support use cases in transport and at unattended terminals. It also considers the opportunity of supporting device-to-device offline payments in the future.

Emerging thinking on interoperability models for a digital pound, where both payer and payee are based in the UK 

Product strategy, setting out our current thinking on how a digital pound could deliver value and support our policy motivations 

Potential roles and responsibilities of digital pound intermediaries and a preliminary conceptual framework for a digital pound rulebook

The blueprint framework sets out the aims, scope and focus areas of the digital pound blueprint.

Project reports

Project reports outline experiments or research studies the Bank has undertaken during the design phase.

This joint research, conducted in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Digital Currency Initiative, studied the possible application of privacy-enhancing technologies to a potential digital pound.

The purpose of this experiment was to assess the technical feasibility of using existing point-of-sale (POS) hardware, as currently used in the UK, to initiate digital pound payments.

Our forums

The work we are doing is supported by the following forums and groups:

We created the Academic Advisory Group to generate academic input and promote interdisciplinary discussions on a range of topics related to retail CBDC. 

The CBDC Engagement Forum looks at all aspects of a central bank digital currency apart from the technology it might use. The forum’s members are senior leaders from financial institutions, civil society groups and merchants, among others.

The CBDC Technology Forum has concluded. We thank participants for their valuable contributions. Engagement on technology will continue via focussed conversations and direct engagement, notably through the Digital Pound Lab.

Working groups

As part of the design phase, the Bank and HM Treasury will be looking to engage with experts on a range of topics. The Bank and HM Treasury will publish requests for information (RFI) on topics associated with the design of a digital pound.

Using the response from the RFIs we will form temporary working groups across the design phase to explore individual topics in more detail. These working groups are made up of representatives from a range of organisations whose experience is closely related to their relevant group.

Previous working groups

  • What would merchants need from a digital pound design?

    • What are the range of factors that would influence whether merchants accept digital pound payments alongside other payment methods?
    • What are the options for enabling in-store acceptance of digital pounds (eg existing POS devices, QR codes) and what are their relative advantages or disadvantages?
    • What are the requirements for enabling e-commerce acceptance of digital pounds?
    • What account functionality would help merchants to manage any corporate limits on digital pound holdings?
    • What issues might arise from digital pounds for retailers’ day-to-day payments and cash treasury management, and how might those be addressed?
    • What are the potential scenarios for retailers running their own PIP or ESIP services?

  • What are the use cases for offline payments and how would that influence design of the digital pound?

    • What constitutes an offline payment and is it feasible to implement offline payments in CBDC?
    • What risks would offline payment create and how can those be mitigated?
    • How could offline payment functionality improve financial inclusion?
    • What are other use cases for CBDC offline payments?
    • As part of digital pound design, should offline payments functionality be developed as part of the core offering, developed as an overlay service, or not included?

  • How could we ensure privacy for individual users of a digital pound while maximising its potential benefits and use cases?

    Privacy in this context means the protection of users' data (personal data and transaction data), and ensuring that users have control and visibility over who can process their data and for what purposes. As noted in the 2023 Consultation Paper, privacy is different from anonymity. The digital pound would not be anonymous because the ability to identify and verify users is needed to prevent financial crime. The Government and the Bank of England have committed that they would not access users' personal data in a digital pound ecosystem. If a digital pound were to be launched in future, primary legislation would need to be introduced first and this would guarantee users' privacy. Additionally, the Bank is exploring technological solutions to prevent it from being able to access personal data via the core ledger.

    For the purposes of this work, "users" are the individuals using a digital pound, and this RFI seeks to explore the varying levels of privacy that a user would have towards the different private sector parties in the ecosystem, including the private sector wallet providers, the merchants, and potentially more participants in the payments processing chain. With this in mind, please provide comments on the following questions:

    • Is there a range of levels and types of privacy that could be offered in a digital pound ecosystem that remains within the principles set out in the Consultation Paper?
    • If so, what are the advantages and disadvantages of different options to the full range of actors in a digital pound ecosystem?
    • How and where do existing legal and regulatory safeguards pose a challenge to different levels of privacy?
    • How much and what kind of information should users have about how their data is used in a digital pound ecosystem, and what impact will this have on merchants and other participants processing payments?
    • What are the main considerations for the introduction of tiered wallets, enabling consumers to choose different levels of privacy depending on access to services?

Digital Pound Taskforce

The Chancellor announced the Digital Pound Taskforce (known then as the CBDC Taskforce) as part of the April 2021 Fintech week. This Taskforce brings together HM Treasury and the Bank of England, to coordinate the exploration of a potential UK CBDC. The Taskforce was involved in the Consultation Paper published in February 2023 and the response in January 2024. The Taskforce continues to oversee the Bank of England and HM Treasury during the design phase for a digital pound. 

Digital Pound Taskforce terms of reference

What's happened

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This page was last updated 03 March 2026