Highlights
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Andrew Griffith, the economic secretary to the U.K. Treasury, said the country could promulgate digital asset regulations within 12 months.
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Griffith remarked that the UK is looking to become a crypto hub by promoting innovation and progressive rules.
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Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong recently declared that the crypto exchange could move from the US due to uncertainty in regulation.
U.K. Could Have Crypto Regulations Soon
In a recent interview with CNBC, Andrew Griffith, the economic secretary to the U.K. Treasury, said that the United Kingdom could publish its crypto regulations within the next year.
Griffith remarked that the British government is looking to take advantage of the benefits that blockchain technology can bring to the private sector and the economy. He further stated that the long-term goal is to enable businesses to explore the opportunities in the crypto space while making sure rules are followed.
The senior minister asserted that the UK has the capacity to regulate the crypto market in a balanced way. He noted that as the country is no longer part of the European Union, it has the freedom to look into cryptocurrency regulation independently. He commented;
“I think over the next 12 or so months is the window. We’ve got this great asset in the U.K., we’ve got control back of a rule book — not something the U.K. has had for decades — so we’ve got the ability to move in an agile and proportionate way.”
Griffith noted that the UK is currently in an optimistic mindset, as it works to maximise the economic activities driven by tech innovation.
Regulatory Framework to Be a Combination of New and Existing Rules
The economic secretary to the U.K. Treasury stated that the crypto regulatory framework would be a mix of existing financial asset laws and new crypto-specific guidelines. He said;
“Wherever possible, we want to see the same asset regulated in the same way, but there are some additional opportunities in the crypto asset or distributed ledger space, and we want to take advantage of that.”
Griffith reported that the regulation of stablecoins is included in the financial services bill, and it is expected to arrive before the full crypto regulatory framework.
When asked about the UK’s plans for a central bank digital currency (CBDC), Griffith explained that it will take some time before it is launched. He remarked;
“If you’re going to have a sovereign digital currency, you’ve got to have the highest level of resilience and infrastructure, so that’s not going to happen overnight.”
This latest news on cryptocurrency comes as no surprise, given the United Kingdom’s position as one of the leading global financial hubs.
Earlier this week, Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong talked at the Fintech Week in London, revealing that the crypto exchange could relocate from the US due to regulatory doubts.
