Former Chancellor Claims UK Falling Behind on Crypto Opportunity
A former UK chancellor recently stated that the country is not making progress in terms of crypto regulation at the same pace as its European Union rivals.
No Proper Crypto Policy
Philip Hammond was the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the United Kingdom from 2016 to 2019. In an interview, he said that the crypto policy of the United Kingdom is lacking in terms of cohesion and direction. He said that the UK government seems to have missed a trick when it comes to the regulation of digital assets.
He went on to say that it would soon be too late for the UK, as other countries are already significantly ahead in terms of regulation development. Hammond said that crypto had become like the wild-west in Britain because there does not seem to be any regulation and this has given it a mixed reputation. This applies not just in the case of the public, but also when it comes to politicians and policymakers alike.
He added that it was essential to develop infrastructure for digital trading because this would be must for transforming the United Kingdom into a trading hub for tokenized digital assets, including tokenized bonds and equities. He asserted that traditional financial assets could only be digitized when they are able to sort out the rules applicable to digital trading properly and get them right.
The former minister said that only those jurisdictions will be able to transform into hubs that embrace this technology and also regulate it the right way.
Regulators Under Stress
Last month, the UK government had promised that they would come up with legislation for the regulation of the crypto space in the country. According to Hammond, the UK has embraced new tech very quickly, but the same cannot be said about crypto regulation. This was probably because of a capacity and bandwidth problem.
He stated that this area of technology was a new one, which makes it difficult for public sector entities to hire the right personnel based on the pay structures of the public sector. He claimed that it would have been better for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to approach the industry on its own and ask for the talent.
But, he added that it was also a fact that this had been a very stressful period for the regulatory authorities as well. After all, they have had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and how it changed their working arrangements, not to mention the consequences associated with Brexit that are still becoming apparent. Likewise, the political environment in Britain is also very uncertain and this has added to their troubles.
Hammond is quite well-versed in the crypto space, as he joined a startup firm based in London back in 2011 called cooper.co. He is a senior adviser in the company, which operates in the digital asset sector and is offering infrastructure and custodial services. He is not wrong about the need for regulation of the crypto sector, as it is expanding quite rapidly.
