The primary goal of the Digital Pound Foundation’s Use Case Working Group is to begin defining the universe of possible use cases and quickly progress to focussing on leading opportunities, which will be fully worked up with the intention for members to build actual demonstrations and proof-of-concept services. All of our work will be backed by the power of the DPF network, hosting sessions with regulators, banks and other stakeholders held as necessary.
- To enable Members to discuss and gather information regarding potential use cases for exploration, with external CBDC and new forms of digital money stakeholders invited as guests (as deemed appropriate)
- To identify and prioritise a broad variety of digital Pound use case possibilities that are of value and intelligible to UK citizens, and then to shortlist for a deeper dive into the detail
- To develop chosen use cases with a view on how to pilot or build proofs-of-concept, helping to facilitate introductions and collaboration opportunities between Members
- To showcase the use case work, expertise and learnings from sandbox/pilot environments with consideration to opportunities for further webinars, written output and private roundtable events
- To build on this initial phase by exploring wider use cases, with the potential to create sub-working groups as specific areas of focus and interest emerge (e.g. beyond retail)
Group Lead
Leading our Use Case Working Group is William Lorenz, Individual Expert Member for the Digital Pound Foundation. William offers exceptional insight as a founder of two international fintech businesses, and most recently served five years as the Payment Strategy Director for Modulr, securing and maintaining core payment relationships across the traditional (fiat) and non-traditional (DeFi / Web 3.0) financial sectors.
All Digital Pound Foundation members have the opportunity to get involved in the creation of educational materials, thought leadership and resources, as well as an engaging programme of communications, publications and events, that will not only support the wider understanding of new forms of digital money, but help to showcase their knowledge and expertise. If your organisation would like to get involved with the Use Case Working Group, or any of our other working groups, we would love to hear from you.
There is no universal case for CBDCs because each economy is different. In some cases, a CBDC may be an important path to financial inclusion—for instance, where geography is an obstacle to physical banking. In others, a CBDC could provide an essential backup in the event that other payment instruments fail. One such case was when the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank extended its CBDC pilot to areas struck by a volcanic eruption last year. So, central banks should tailor plans to their specific circumstances and needs.