It's Happening

I've tried to find out what this would mean and it appears that it would change the payments system to be immediate - at the moment if you make a card payment it takes a couple of days to go through the banking system. Also the charges for taking card payments made to businesses are a burden for small traders, and I believe that digital payments would be free. It would work on the principle of a digital wallet, but I'm not sure if you would have to use a smartphone for that or if you could still use a chip & pin card. My preference would be to still use a card. 

Does anyone know if what I think is correct? Also does anyone know if money in a digital wallet is separate funds to your bank account, like cash?

I've tried to find out what this would mean and it appears that it would change the payments system to be immediate - at the moment if you make a card payment it takes a couple of days to go through the banking system. Also the charges for taking card payments made to businesses are a burden for small traders, and I believe that digital payments would be free. It would work on the principle of a digital wallet, but I'm not sure if you would have to use a smartphone for that or if you could still use a chip & pin card. My preference would be to still use a card. 

Does anyone know if what I think is correct? Also does anyone know if money in a digital wallet is separate funds to your bank account, like cash?

I don’t know much about digital currency but in the past I have used Revolut Banking for foreign travel and I had several different wallets with euros, pounds, dollars etc within the one app. I can’t remember if the card was only for the sterling account or not. There was also a facility to buy crypto currency, so I bought a tiny amount of about two pounds worth because I was curious. It devalued fairly quickly. 

I now use Chase banking for day to day spending and foreign travel and my card payments go through immediately. Other banks such as First Direct have a delay. I don’t know if crypto will free up charges and delays or not. Sorry about all the don’t knows.

It's pretty early days for the digital pound idea so there are no definitive answers about how exactly it would work. The link Iain posted to the Bank of England statement is the best source for info. It will definitely be separate from your bank account though and operate via a digital wallet - smartphones are the existing tech for those wallets but there are/may be different options in the future.