Minted – what new prime minister Rishi Sunak will bring to the UK crypto industry

The rise of Rishi Sunak to become the youngest UK prime minister in modern political history following the resignation of Liz Truss last week may not only benefit the British economy but also the UK’s crypto sector as well.

The former UK chancellor actively advocated for the UK to become a global crypto asset and technology hub during his time at 11 Downing Street.

In a plan set out earlier this year, Sunak outlined how the UK governement would help encourage the development of the crypto asset market in the UK in order to ensure that Britain’s booming financial services sector remains at the forefront of innovation. 

Sunak said: “It’s my ambition to make the UK a global hub for crypto asset technology.

UK’s crypto potential

Over the last few years, the crypto sector has witnessed a rise in mainstream adoption with a significant increase of users, fuelled by digital currencies, stablecoin projects and the growing interest in digital assets, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Almost a fifth (19%) of Brits have purchased cryptocurrencies before, an increase of 103% since 2018, when just 3% of the population owned cryptocurrency. 

In response to the growing demand, the UK government’s new measures include creating a financial market infrastructure sandbox to help firms innovate, re-evaluating the competitiveness of the UK tax system to encourage investors, and recognising stablecoins as a form of payment to be brought within the regulations of the current financial ecosystem. 

The government's plan also stated that UK will proactively explore distributed ledger technology (DLT) within financial markets to promote greater efficiency and transparency.

Royal Mint NFT

Sunak had also commissioned the Royal Mint to develop NFTs by this summer, although an update or what the NFTs will look like or when they will be launched has yet to be announced.

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