As described by the Bank of England, "the digital pound would be a new type of money issued by the Bank of England for everyone to use for day-to-day spending...in-store or online to make payments."
It would complement rather than replace the bank notes already issued by the Bank of England. Alistair's invitation to be on this advisory group is based on his more than two decades of research on financial technologies and financial infrastructures, focusing especially on the challenges of establishing and adopting common standards and shared infrastructures for payments and other transaction banking networks.
He expects to be arguing the case for a cautious, step-by-step approach to developing the digital pound due to the uncertainties of consumer and business adoption.