Andrew Griffith, the UK's financial services minister, said it was more important to design the digital pound correctly than to launch it quickly. China is already advancing its digital yuan pilot and the European Central Bank is studying the digital euro, which puts pressure on the UK to keep up with advances in financial technology. The UK Treasury will launch a public consultation on the attributes of the digital pound in the coming weeks. He added that the first case for using the digital pound might be the settlement of wholesale financial transactions, but given the public policy considerations of digital currencies, wholesale, private fiat-backed stablecoins might come first. (Reuters)