Bank of England to Accelerate Blockchain Work

The UK's newly opened FinTech accelerator is seeking additional ways to explore blockchain tech.

Speaking during an eventhttp://blockchain.cs.ucl.ac.uk/p2pfisy-2016/ in London this week, the chief cashier of the Bank of England, Victoria Cleland, discussed the central bank's efforts involving financial technology, including the founding of a startup accelerator focused on financial applications.

It's here that the Bank of England is seeking to study concepts such as distributed ledger-based digital currency, but the organization is already looking to move beyond its currently disclosed projects.

Cleland said:

"[Distributed ledger technology] is still in its infancy, and there are numerous questions that need exploring. The Bank has already undertaken a proof-of-concept using this technology and we are looking for new opportunities through our FinTech accelerator."

The subject, detailed in an ultimately cancelled speech by Bank of England governor Mark Carney, has since been taken up in the British legislature (though no direct legislative effort has been sought to date).

Earlier this month, a committee of the UK House of Lords heard from a number of panelists on the technology as part of its fact-finding effort into the technology.

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