A committee of the UK House of Lords, the upper chamber of Parliament, struck a curious and at times critical tone when discussing blockchain technology and its impact on finance and government.
During an afternoon hearing of the The Economic Affairs Committee, members heard from academics and representatives of the blockchain industry, as well as Ben Broadbent, the deputy governor for monetary policy of the Bank of England. Lasting about three hours, the hearing demonstrated a mixture of genuine interest and skepticism on the part of committee members.
It was the first major committee discussion of the technology within Parliament, and follows a period of growing interest within the UK government to pursue possible applications.
In addition to Broadbent, witnesses who spoke included Digital Asset Holdings CEO Blythe Masters (who spoke via phone); 11:FS co-founder and director of blockchain Simon Taylor; Imperial College Centre for Cryptocurrency Research associate director Dr Catherine Mulligan; Gresham College professor of commerce Michael Mainelli; and PwC transformation and assurance director Lord Spens.
During his appearance, Broadbent discussed both the concept of a central bank issued digital currency – which he indicated is an evolving, years-long process – as well as the technology’s broader impact on financial markets.
Broadbent went on to frame the conversation about blockchain within a broader question of how financial markets should be structured at all, telling committee members: "When you think of things on these scales, the benefits are clear and quite large, and so are the costs. And what I was really trying to say is, even though this is a very new technology, I think it’s possible, once you think through, to realize that some of the big questions involved are very old, not to say ancient." On bitcoin
Committee members asked a number of questions about bitcoin, though at times the digital […]
