UK to give Bank of England a new mandate to support digital currency innovation

The UK government plans to assign the Bank of England a new mandate focused on supporting digital currency and payments innovation, while keeping financial stability as the central bank’s primary objective. The added remit would serve as a secondary objective rather than replace or weaken the bank’s core mission. City Minister Lucy Rigby said tokenization and distributed ledger technology have the potential to reshape global financial markets. According to the report, the new objective is intended to back the Bank of England’s ongoing work on payments and digital finance innovation, while helping the UK maintain its position as a leading global financial services center. The move comes after the UK and the US formed a joint working group to advance stablecoin adoption. The report also noted that in June, the Bank of England dropped an earlier proposal that would have capped the amount of stablecoins held by individuals and businesses. Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden welcomed the new responsibility.