UK Treasury welcomes crypto innovation calling it "an opportunity"

HM Treasury has announced that London will welcome cryptocurrency, with the City minister John Glen stating in a speech that “the UK is open for business and open for crypto businesses”.

The government’s position on cryptocurrency was outlined in a speech by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen at the Innovate Finance Global Summit. The package of measures announced are aimed at ensuring the UK remains a leader in financial technology.

“Never in the history of commerce has there been invention as hyped and misunderstood as Distributed Ledger Technology and Blockchain. For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to use the catch-all term ‘crypto’ or ‘crypto-technologies’.But what I mean is the extraordinary, mercurial, underlying technology which makes ‘crypto’ possible… and which we can be pretty sure is going to have profound effects across multiple domains.And that doesn’t happen very often.”

He added:

“It’s a challenge… and it’s an opportunity”

Chancellor Rishi Sunkak also revealed plans to make the UK a global hub for crypto-asset technology, instructing the Royal Mint to create the UK government’s first-ever NFT.

In addition, the treasury announced that stablecoins will be brought within regulation, to become a recognised form of payment. The government intends to create legislation that will allow stablecoin issuers and service providers to operate and invest in the UK.

Sunak note in a statement:

“It’s my ambition to make the UK a global hub for cryptoasset technology, and the measures we’ve outlined today will help to ensure firms can invest, innovate and scale up in this country. We want to see the businesses of tomorrow – and the jobs they create - here in the UK, and by regulating effectively we can give them the confidence they need to think and invest long-term.

He added:

“This is part of our plan to ensure the UK financial services industry is always at the forefront of technology and innovation.”

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.