Why A Bank Of England Backed Cryptocurrency Is Not The Way Forward

The Bank of England, backed by the UK cryptocurrency task force and about a million other authorities are making headlines once again with their ongoing investigations into cryptocurrency adoption in the UK. The overall consensus here is that the government sit on the fence with regards to cryptocurrencies, but aim to use regulation as a format for enabling rife cryptocurrency trading in the UK. Part of this, comes from notions that the Bank of England could establish their own cryptocurrency in order for them to take advantage of the blockchain, this reflects similar notions from within India, who have recently made it clear that they will not allow trading to continue within their banks, but still want to produce their own cryptocurrency so they can profit somewhat. A recent survey indicates that with the UK specifically, Britons as a majority don’t think a Bank of England, or sovereign cryptocurrency would be beneficial. The survey, by D-CYFOR has concluded that 60% of those surveyed would not support a cryptocurrency that had connections to the pound. 61% of those surveyed also claimed that coins like Bitcoin would be worthless in the next 6 months. Maybe they need to start reading news from other sources? Anyway, what does this mean? This sort of survey data is important because it will provide the task force behind inevitable cryptocurrency regulation with rich content through which they can establish an approach. If the majority of the population don’t want a sovereign cryptocurrency, why would the generate one? Another meaning we can take from this, is that there is still a huge need for cryptocurrency education to meet the national curriculum, and moreover, to become a key part of how we operate. As the blockchain industry integrates into our society (it's inevitable to happen) through things like contracting, charity, data storage etc, then if people aren’t armed with the knowledge about cryptocurrencies, we are in danger of losing what should be a vital resource. Concerningly, according to the survey, 50% of those who had invested in Bitcoin previously said they would not consider investing in other alt-coins, what? Are the UK public turning their back on cryptocurrency, will that give the government the ammunition it needs to establish a ban or draconian regulation? I’m not sure. Whilst this data is worrying, it may not mean a lot. Ultimately, survey data is not entirely representative of the whole population, it can’t be generalised and therefore the findings can’t relate to the overall public opinion, which is promising at least. Let’s hope the regulators see this as an advisory document and not one of concrete evidence. By learning to understand opinions, we can all start to help educate our peers on the benefits of blockchain, not just of cryptocurrency alone. I get why some people are scared of it but let’s remember, people were terrified of the internet at first, now look...