Alex Voorhoeve, Professor and Head of the Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method Department at the London School of Economics, has been appointed to the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Academic Advisory Group, run by the Bank of England and the UK Treasury.

The CBDC Advisory Group brings together “experts from a range of disciplines related to our work on the digital pound.” The Bank of England says:

In February 2023, the Bank of England and HM Treasury jointly issued a consultation paper setting out an assessment of the motivations and design choices for a potential digital pound. While no decision has been made, that paper signalled that the digital pound is likely to be needed in the future, so our work will now move onto a ‘design phase’.

The objective of the design phase is to:

• • develop a comprehensive and conceptual architecture 
  • carry out experimentation and proofs of concept, in collaboration with private sector innovators
  • inform the development of our potential architecture and to build understanding of digital currency technology

An effective design phase will ensure that the development of a digital pound can be accelerated if a decision is taken to build it.

This group aims to encourage academic research and debate that is relevant to input and promote interdisciplinary discussions on a range of topics related to retail CBDC, and of relevance to our work during the design phase. 

There’s more information about the group here.

This is not the first time Professor Voorhoeve, whose research is on distributive justice, rational choice theory, and moral psychology, has served in an advisory capacity to public institutions. He previously has acted as a consultant researcher on justice in health to the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.