According to Cointelegraph, the Bank of England said it has made significant progress in its CBDC plan. Tom Mutton, head of the Bank of England's fintech and CBDC projects, recently shared insights on the privacy aspects of CBDC and why they may be looking for other options besides blockchain as the underlying technology.
Mutton pointed out in an interview that at a recent meeting of technical experts hosted by the Bank of England to discuss the design of the digital pound, there was a clear disagreement about which ledger should be used for CBDC. Therefore, the bank aims to track multiple ledger technologies, including blockchain. Currently, the Bank of England and the Treasury are seeking feedback from stakeholders and technical experts on the proposed design of their CBDC. The deadline for feedback is June 30. Mutton said: "We hope to be compatible with the distributed ledger business model of the private sector, but we do not believe that distributed ledgers provide greater efficiency than traditional ledgers."
Additionally, Mutton touched on the privacy aspect of CBDCs, claiming that the digital pound would focus on providing privacy to users and would not collect personal data. He said the bank would focus on providing infrastructure, while private companies would be responsible for innovation. Mutton added that the Bank of England or the government would not have access to any user data, and even wallet providers that would have limited access to that data would need to obtain consent from users as to what data to store. The Bank of England has previously noted that the digital pound could coexist with private stablecoins, with a focus on the retail market.