- Britain has a new Prime Minister, but will she support the UK’s crypto hub plans?
- The losing candidate, Rishi Sunak, put forward plans in April to make Britain a blockchain hub
- Sunak has now lost his job as well as his leadership bid, meaning the crypto hub could be next
The appointment of Liz Truss to the premiership of Great Britain following the resignation of Boris Johnson two months ago has thrown the UK’s plans to be a crypto hub into doubt. This is partly because new leaders have new ideas, but also because the idea of a crypto hub was launched and pushed by Rishi Sunak – the very man that Truss defeated in the prime ministerial runoff. This leaves the UK’s crypto push in the balance, especially with so many more pressing issues for Truss to deal with.
Sunak’s Crypto Hubs Plans Surprised Many
Sunak surprised the UK with his announcement five months ago that he wanted Britain to become a “global cryptoasset hub”, not least because the country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is trying its best to ban crypto in the UK. Sunak said at the time he wanted to encourage regulation of certain types of cryptocurrency, including stablecoins, in a bid to encourage trust in the sector, but seeing as he has now been ousted as Chancellor there is a chance that the plan to make the UK a crypto hub is now as dead as his leadership bid.
Truss didn’t mention anything about the UK’s crypto policy in the run up to the yesterday’s vote, probably because there are about a hundred things more important to the people of Britain right now, such as the crippling cost of living. However, we do have some idea of her thoughts on cryptocurrencies from a January 2018 tweet:
We should welcome #cryptocurrencies in a way that doesn’t constrain their potential. Liberate free enterprise areas by removing regulations that restrict prosperity. #PolicyExchange #futureoffreedom #shakeup
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) January 30, 2018
The Crypto World Holds its Breath
Whether Truss still holds these views four and a half years later remains to be seen, but with the crypto space much bigger in scale and the public consciousness than it was back then (and primarily not in a good way) it would be a surprise if her message was still the same. However, until we get a public comment on Sunak’s brainchild we won’t know for sure.
