Protecting Privacy in New Forms of Digital Money

About the event

The Digital Pound Foundation is holding the first in its planned series of Roundtable events on Wednesday 21st September at 3pm BST. The purpose of the Roundtables is to bring together experts and industry practitioners in exploring real, practical solutions to the challenges and opportunities arising from the emergence of new forms of digital money – in both its public and private forms.

This first Roundtable will focus on the theme of protecting and balancing privacy in new forms of digital money. We’re asking participants to come prepared for a discussion aimed at getting to the bottom of questions including:

• Why is privacy important? Why is it necessary to consider and plan for privacy protections now, in advance of the introduction of a digital Pound? 
• How do different jurisdictions approach privacy in the design and regulation of digital money? What best practices and recommendations can we take away from other countries?
• There are incentives for both central bank and private issuers to collect and use data about the users of the digital money that they issue, and their transactions. How can these interests and incentives be balanced with the need for privacy protections, in a jurisdiction that values individual rights to privacy?
• How can privacy protections be embedded – both technically and legally – in the design of a CBDC in the UK?
• As privately-issued forms of the digital Pound begin to emerge, how should privacy protections be embedded in the regulatory framework for systemically important stablecoins?
• How can we find a balance between maintaining the anonymity associated with ‘cash’ and taking the opportunity to leverage increased transactional visibility to enhance AML / CTF efforts? Should digital cash transactions up to a certain threshold remain anonymous?
• What can be done to alleviate public concerns that CBDCs and new forms of digital money take away the human right to privacy? To what extent will the level of fear vary between public and private forms of digital money? Is this distinction justified?

This Roundtable will take the form of a 90-minute closed, in-person, moderated discussion in London, on Wednesday 21st September at 3pm BST. Whilst the Roundtable will be a private session, subject to Chatham House rules, we have invited a small select group of regulators and policymakers to observe the discussions.

The Roundtable will be followed by an opportunity for networking with other participants as well as members of the Digital Pound Foundation. We will publish an anonymised summary of the key findings and outputs of the session at a later date, including potential solutions and thought leadership.

Participants