UK Treasury considering digital pound 

Griffith told MPs in the Treasury select committee that the UK was dedicated to becoming a world crypto hub.

Additionally, Griffith stated the government was "a long way down the road... to establish a regime for the wholesale use, for payment purposes, of stablecoins".

Stablecoins are designed to be more akin to traditional currencies, having a more predictable value.

China has pushed ahead with testing a digital yuan, and the European Central Bank is known to be studying a digital euro, leaving eyes on the UK to do the same and stay ahead of the curve in the advances in financial technology.

"The consultation is going to say this is an if and not a when. We are not fully into the inevitability of doing this," Griffith told the UK parliament’s Treasury Select Committee.

Digital currencies have been facing a "crypto winter", a rapid decline in the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which has sparked concerns about the stability of such currencies.

A digital pound also raised many public policy issues, he said.

"We have got to get them right. I would rather be right than be first," Griffith said. "It will be a long lead-time activity."

Griffith continued: "In the crypto space there is the emergence of a new set of technologies, such as distributed ledger technology, the blockchain itself and I think it is right that all of us should be humbler about our ability to predict long term technologies and outcomes, but it would be wrong for the UK not to be forward leaning in respect to seeking to make the most of new opportunities and making sure that we have a well calibrated regulatory response that protects consumers.

“But a response that doesn’t seek to impede the safe use of this new technology."