Bank of England's Cunliffe says digital pound not to be confused with crypto

As the U.K. explores the potential for a digital pound, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe on Tuesday clarified that the digital asset would be nothing like cryptocurrencies. "Given all the attention that the cryptoasset world has received in recent years, it is understandable that the digital pound can be confused with cryptoassets such as bitcoin ( BTC-USD )... nothing could be further from the truth," Cunliffe said while addressing an event held by banking industry body UK Finance. Cunliffe highlighted that cryptos are "highly speculative" assets, saying they have no intrinsic value because of which they are not suitable for general payment purposes. As for the digital pound, which will be issued by the Bank of England, Cunliffe said the asset could be introduced in the second half of the decade. "A digital pound would be a very substantial financial infrastructure project that would take several years to complete," he cautioned. Cunliffe said "we are not yet at a point where a firm decision can be made to implement a digital pound", citing conclusions from a government taskforce . The taskforce will now move to developing a technical blueprint for the digital pound. "This stage will take ~2-3 years following which a decision will be made whether or not to implement a digital pound," said Cunliffe. Earlier, the U.K. government outlined its plan to regulate crypto activities .