Bank of England Seeks Startups for DLT Privacy Projects

The UK's central bank is seeking startups to take part in distributed ledger projects focused on data privacy.

In a speech from 12th April and published yesterday, Bank of England governor Mark Carney told attendees of a conference on FinTech that the central bank wants to expand work it began in earnest last year. The applications being researched by the bank include digital currency – an area being explored by a number of central banks worldwide.

According to Carney, the Bank of England is moving to open its startup accelerator – first revealed in the transcript of a cancelled speech last summer – to additional firms.

Carney explained:

"Today we are opening our 4th round of applications to the Accelerator. We are looking to work on new proofs of concept on maintaining privacy in a distributed ledger and applying a range of big data tools to support the Bank’s analysis."

The news is the latest signal that the Bank of England is widening the scope of its work with blockchain and distributed ledgers. The central bank has emerged in the past year as one of the more proactive institutions when it comes to exploring applications of the tech.

Earlier this month, officials from the Bank of England disclosed that a new version of its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system will be compatible with blockchain. That decision followed months of consultation on whether to take this approach, starting in September.

Recent months have also seen the central bank expand its collaborative work on blockchain. In February, the central bank became a member of the Linux Foundation-backed Hyperledger blockchain project.

Bank of England image via Shutterstock