In the wake of China, the US and Europe itself which has recently defined the contours of the digital euro project, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has proposed to begin studying the possibility of replacing the pound with Britcoin, a Bitcoin-like digital currency, controlled and made stable by the Bank of England. Sunak called it the greatest upheaval in the history of money: the britcoin would have the purpose of bringing a series of benefits to citizens and small and medium-sized businesses. In fact, it would eliminate the costs of banking operations and cut the time for the transfer of money in the banking system. A recent Daily Mail article clarified the outline of the project: “However, critics warn that a digital version of the pound could lead to greater financial instability, making it more difficult for the Bank to regulate the economy with monetary policies such as setting rates. of interest “. Concerns also relate to the fact that the introduction of Britcoin could lead to higher lending rates and mortgages “as millions of people could transfer their money into the central bank’s digital currency, the amount of money they would have to pay would be combined. banks have on deposit to lend to mortgage contractors “. In any event, a task force of Treasury and Central Bank officials was set up to look into the matter and report to Sunak by the end of the year. Unlike Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, “Britcoin would be tied to the value of the pound and backed by the central bank. This, in theory, should prevent it from fluctuating massively in value. “According to plans considered by officials,” consumers may be able to hold currency in accounts directly linked to the Bank of England “while not it is still unclear if and how to “link interest rates to Britcoin, which could make it attractive to savers as an alternative to money”. While retailers and businesses may accept digital currency for ordinary payments traditionally incurred by debit or credit card. “But it is likely that the amount of money any individual could hold in Britcoin may initially be limited.” The fundamental point is that it should be very simple and very fast to transfer Britcoins in ordinary cash to make them immediately withdrawable from an ATM. A digital currency in which customers have accounts directly linked to the Bank of England would also make it “much easier to issue so-called money from the helicopter, a way to stimulate the economy in times of crisis where a central bank creates money and distributes it directly to consumers “.