Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe of the Bank of England (BOE) stated in a speech on Thursday that the BOE received more than 50,000 responses to its consultation on a digital pound.Cunliffe said at a conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. that the majority of attendees expressed concerns over privacy, programability, and the decline of cash.The central bank stated that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) will probably be required even though it hasn’t made a formal decision on whether to issue one yet. The digital pound consultation was open from February to June. When making electronic payments, users of the digital pound will have access to the same degree of privacy as they do now.In an attempt to allay worries, he added that the BOE would not view personal information.Respondents were worried that the central bank would limit the functionality of the digital pound and make it programmable, but Cunliffe assured them that would not occur. “It would be for private sector firms to develop and offer, for user consent, payment services involving greater programmability,” he said. “Criticisms of the digital pound have ranged from concerns that it would be adopted at a scale and pace that would disintermediate the banking system and threaten financial stability, to, at the