Several countries have been looking into the cryptocurrency market in the past few months. It has publicly been revealed that Venezuela and Russia are looking into releasing their own national cryptocurrencies. Now, it seems that the same thing might also be valid for England.

It has been revealed that the Bank of England might also be looking into the possibility of releasing a digital currency in 2018.

Local media reported that this is actually not a new project for the bank and in fact the Bank of England has been looking into the possibility of launching its own digital currency for quite some time.

The Bank of England reportedly created a research unit in 2015

According to media reports, the bank created a research unit in 2015 with the main purpose to investigate the way the bitcoin functions. Now, it has been revealed that this team has actually made a breakthrough discovery. This allegedly made the Governor of Bank of England contact other central banks to talk about the potential release of a digital currency. 

The fact that these discussions took place was reported by The Telegraph. The media outlet indicated that the Bank of England could start working at a digital currency, similar to the bitcoin, in 2018, and that the Bank has been looking into the possibility of connecting a national digital currency to the sterling. The report said that:

The report also claimed that a virtual currency would allow people in England to keep their money in a digital form, which would in time lead to less of a need for retail banks.

The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, previously said that the bitcoin market is an area of interest for him, and revealed that the bank's study on the way bitcoin functions and evolves is still ongoing. Carney also revealed that there have been talks about the cryptocurrency market with major central banks.