The UK government is laying the groundwork for world domination in the crypto realm. On the 4th of April, Britain announced plans to mint its own non-fungible token, in its quest of becoming a “world leader” in the cryptocurrency industry.
This was divulged by City Minister John Glen at a recent fintech event. He said Royal Mint, the government-owned treasury that produces coins for the UK has been directed by Finance Minister Rishi Sunak to create and issue the NFT before summer. “There will be more details available very soon,” he added.
As stated by Glen, the UK’s NFT initiative is part of a larger effort by the government to “lead the way” in crypto. The minister announced a number of steps the nation will take to incorporate digital assets under more regulatory scrutiny.
“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.”
Glen said the government was also on the lookout for other aspects of crypto, such as Web3.
Is the UK government’s crypto ambition a mere PR play?
The tall claims however failed to impress some. One of them is Mauricio Magaldi, global strategy director for crypto at 11:FS, who called the government’s NFT plans “nothing more than a strategic PR-play”.
The skepticism is not limited to a few. In fact, several industry insiders have been critical of the U.K.’s position on crypto and called for more regulatory clarity in the space.
In a previous article by TronWeekly, Britain’s top financial institution, the Bank of England [BoE] has taken a conservative approach to digital assets, despite authorities announcing plans to regulate the crypto market.
Similarly, the Financial Conduct Authority [FCA] reportedly refused to engage with a vast majority of crypto firms that have applied for registration with the watchdog. FCA, in its response, claimed that it feared too many “financial crime red flags” were overlooked. As a result, crypto firms have been forced to shut down their U.K. operations and move offshore after failing to make it onto the final register.