PwC's blockchain team has been selected to help the Bank of England create distributed ledger technology (DLT) for virtual currencies as a proof on concept (POC).
The concept will research how digital currencies could work with a network-based platform that could mint its own virtual money. It would also need to demonstrate how the money could be put into circulation, exchanged and then withdrawn on demand.
PwC contributed its blockchain team's expertise to support the Bank of England's own technology specialists.
“This is a significant piece of work and PwC are very excited to have been able to support the Bank in developing their first DLT Proof of Concept, which will enable the Bank to gain a better awareness of DL from both a technology and policy perspective,” Nick Bouch, financial services data leader and partner at PwC, said.
The DLT enables the Bank of England to see whether it would be possible to launch a new digital currency in the future that could rival the likes of Bitcoin.
“This Proof of Concept brought to life the core features of distributed ledgers, greatly enhancing the Bank’s understanding of DLT," Rob Elsey, CIO for the Bank of England, added.
"With PwC’s support, the Bank’s developers used the latest techniques and software to deliver this POC and have gained further skills that will enable additional rapid Proof of Concepts in the future.”
The news follows the announcement that the Bank of England has launched a FinTech accelerator programme to help develop new innovations in banking, particularly those with a focus on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.
