It criticised the UK government for spending public resources on supporting crypto activities “without a clear, beneficial use case” and singled out a since-scrapped plan by the Royal Mint to create a nonfungible token. That was one of the most visible aspects of a campaign led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last year to market the UK as a crypto hub. At the time, Sunak was the UK’s finance minister.
As Chancellor he also said "It’s my ambition to make the UK a global hub for cryptoasset technology."
I ask the Minister and the Government to consider implementing all the fantastic ideas that were contained in the speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury in April regarding blockchain and crypto, notably proceeding with a sovereign gilt issue using distributed ledger technology, but also enabling the trading of exchange-traded notes on crypto on UK exchanges, where we risk falling behind Europe if we do not act.
This statement reflects a strongly positive and proactive stance on blockchain and crypto. It urges the government to advance initiatives like issuing sovereign gilts on distributed ledger technology and allowing crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs) on UK exchanges—warning that the UK may fall behind Europe without swift action.