Of course, the analogue world has seen the odd bank run – an image of long queues forming in front of branches of the UK bank Northern Rock in 2007 springs to mind. But a digital bank run would be different.
In a classic bank run, customers have to find another way of storing the money that they withdraw, and this entails either risk or costs. In a digital bank run, all it takes is a few mouse clicks to transfer savings out of the private financial system and into a central bank account. Customers are less likely to think twice about doing that.