The Bank of England has partnered with payments platform Nuggets to develop a privacy and identity layer for a potential digital pound. Nuggets, known for its decentralized identity technology, collaborated with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements on the recently concluded Project Rosalind. This initiative examined how a “universal and extensible API layer” could facilitate connections between central bank and private sector infrastructures, enabling retail CBDC payments.
The central bank has now tasked Nuggets with designing a private and secure system that prevents transaction tracking and correlation while also combating fraud and money laundering. Recently, financial services minister Andrew Griffith emphasized the importance of privacy, advocating for a cautious approach to the digital pound’s design.
Although the Bank of England has stated that it will not make a final decision on introducing a digital currency, often referred to as “Britcoin,” until at least 2025, Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe indicated in February that the likelihood of its implementation is better than even. Following this, the Bank has begun the recruitment process as it aims to assemble a team of up to 30 individuals to manage the project.