An organisation called PositiveMoney.org has put forward a proposal for digital cash in the UK[1]. I'll not go into the details, you can get those here[2]. Suffice to say it's a centralised system which cuts out the banks by giving citizens direct access to the central bank's reserve currency. These accounts are called Digital Cash Accounts (DCA). Of course your dosh can still suffer from the effects of inflation (due to government 'priniting' dosh) but, other than that, it is 100% safe, not like it is now with only £75k being safe (in each *different* bank where you haver an account) via the Finacial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)[3]. DCA's will likely not pay interest, in fact will more than likely charge for their services. AIUI, ordinary bank accounts will still be available and will pay interest.
AISI, UK citizens are unlikely to take up bitcoin any time soon. If DCAs are introduced, UK citizens are likely to take them up as they feel more secure using government dosh (yes, I know, but they do). So are DCAs a barrier to bitcoin ever taking hold in 1st world countries like the UK?
[1]
http://positivemoney.org/2016/02/how-would-you-be-affected-if-the-bank-of-england-starts-issuing-digital-cash/.
[2]
http://positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Digital_Cash_WebPrintReady_20160113.pdf[3] The FSCS is a bit of a con in that it's backed up by tax payers and is one reason (excuse) for bailing out the banks.
