UK Government Reveals Plans to Become Crypto-Asset Technology Staple Name

The cryptocurrency market welcomed the news that the British government plans to make the UK a staple name in global crypto-asset technology.

The UK government revealed several ways it plans on achieving this feat on Monday, including regulating stablecoins, creating a “financial market infrastructure sandbox” to foster blockchain and crypto technology-related innovations, organizing a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)-led Cryptosprint, engaging the Royal Mint on a non-fungible token (NFT), and creating a committee to engage with the cryptocurrency industry more closely.

Commenting on the development, Rishi Sunak, the British chancellor of the exchequer, noted:

“It’s my ambition to make the UK a global hub for crypto-asset technology, and the measures we’ve outlined today will help to ensure firms can invest, innovate, and scale-up in this country.”

Economic Secretary to the UK Treasury Comments on Recent Announcement

Meanwhile, the economic secretary to the UK Treasury, John Glen, made some comments about the government’s cryptocurrency plan yesterday at the Innovate Finance Global Summit. Glen noted: “We want this country to be a global hub — the very best place in the world to start and scale crypto-companies,” adding:

“If there is one message I want you to leave here today with, it is that the UK is … open for crypto businesses.

If crypto-technologies are going to be a big part of the future, then we — the UK — want to be in, and in on the ground floor. In fact, if we commit now … if we act now … we can lead the way.”

The economic secretary also noted:

“We shouldn’t be thinking of regulation as a static, rigid thing. Instead, we should be thinking in terms of regulatory ‘code’ … like computer code … which we refine and rewrite when we need to.”

Finally, he talked about stablecoin regulation in the UK, noting: “I can confirm that we will be legislating to bring certain stablecoins into our payments framework … creating the conditions for stablecoin issuers and service providers to operate and grow in the UK.”