The government is reportedly exploring the launch of a digital pound.

According to a report by the BBC, the economic secretary to the Treasury said that the government plans to launch a new public consultation on a national cryptocurrency over the next few weeks.

Andrew Griffith MP told the Treasury Select Committee that the UK is committed to become a worldwide “crypto hub”.

He said that the government has come a long way to develop a system for the wholesale use of stablecoins for payments.

“"I want to see us establish a regime, and this is within the FSMB [Financial Services and Markets Bill, currently being debated in Parliament], for the wholesale use for payment purposes of stablecoins," he said, according to the report.

He continued: "It is right to look to seek to embrace potentially disruptive technologies, particularly when we have such a strong FinTech and financial sector."

The announcement comes after US regulators urged banks to be cautious following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

The Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued their first joint statement on crypto last week, in which the regulators highlight risks of fraud, legal uncertainty and misleading disclosures by crypto firms as reasons for banks to be more cautious.

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