The right-wing populist asked about the central bank’s progress in exploring a central bank digital currency in a meeting yesterday with BOE Governor Andrew Bailey, alongside Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice.
The bank chief said a CBDC, dubbed “Britcoin” by the British press, could also help tackle fraud, according to a summary of the meeting seen by Bloomberg.
But Mr Farage hit back after the meeting. “Whenever they want to take away your freedoms and your liberties, they always say it’ll deal with fraud,” he told Bloomberg.
“This would represent the most monstrous level of government control over every aspect of our lives, and I am wholly opposed to it.” The BOE declined to comment.
The central bank argues that the digital pound could help integrate digital systems throughout the UK’s banking and payments infrastructure.
But critics worry that creating a central bank-backed stablecoin would allow the state to gather valuable information about Britons’ spending patterns, and potentially interfere in how they use their money.
The BoE, however, has played down those concerns, saying in a consultation paper that neither it nor the government would program digital currency in a way that determines how or when users could spend their money.
Mr Bailey has previously said he remained to be convinced of the need to create a CBDC for households.
Mr Farage’s meeting with Mr Bailey comes as his poll-leading party, which has only five MPs, attempts to show it’s a viable contender to lead a government after the next general election, due by mid-2029.
The party’s plans include an overhaul of the UK’s financial regulation and its immigration system.
But efforts to attract mainstream voters have been set back in recent days, as Mr Farage failed to answer questions around his policy of revoking the so-called “indefinite leave to remain” status of legal migrants, and suggested that eastern European migrants are eating swans in British parks.
Mr Tice, a former property investor, has been leading efforts to establish a credible set of economic plans to help Reform win power.
While the party is opposed to the idea of a CBDC, it wants the BoE and the Financial Conduct Authority to ease the regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies and private sector stablecoins, which it sees as key to the future of financial markets.
Mr Farage pushed Mr Bailey to take a bolder view on cryptocurrencies in the meeting.
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