The governor was responding to mounting fears, which have spread widely across the internet, that central bank digital currencies will supplant cash. Privacy campaigners claim CBDCs will end transaction anonymity, give governments surveillance powers over the public and shut people out of the financial system.
Digital money will not replace cash in the UK and the Bank of England will continue to provide notes and coins “for as long as people want”, Governor Andrew Bailey said.
Speaking on a panel at the Group of Thirty’s 39th Annual International Banking Seminar in Washington, Bailey said: “The evidence is they do want it, so we will continue to supply it.”
