UK’s New Prime Minister is Crypto-Friendly: A Bullish Prospect?
CRYPTOCURRENCY — The highly controversial fiscal policy plans of the now outgoing Prime Minister (PM), Liz Truss, propelled her to be the shortest-tenured PM in the history of the UK — residing in the top office for a disappointingly one and a half months. However, this short-lived tenure of the conservative party’s top seed enabled the now newly appointed PM, Rishi Sunak, to occupy the highest political position in the world’s sixth-largest economy.
Sunak has been known as an active crypto advocate and enthusiast. Hence, factoring this seemingly bullish prospect, since his appointment yesterday, the 25th of October, the market has rallied immensely. In less than two days, Bitcoin (BTC) is currently up more than 8 percent, while Ethereum (ETH) is up roughly 20 percent. This remarkable price rally sharply contrasts Truss’ first day in the office on the 6th of September, where the crypto benchmark, BTC, sunk almost 5 percent.
Rishi Sunak’s Legacy
As some of you may remember, during his previous tenure as a finance minister under the then PM Boris Johnson, Sunak pushed for some of the most radical crypto initiatives in the western hemisphere. In fact, in the crypto space, he was best remembered as the British political figure that wanted to incorporate and normalize digital currencies in the UK.
“It’s a positive for crypto and the general economy,” said Ian Taylor, director of the industry lobby group, CryptoUK.
In April of this year, Sunak promoted a string of special government programs to make the UK into what he dubbed “a global cryptoasset technology hub.” Among his most known propositions is his radical plan to include stablecoins into the country’s national payment system, hence “paving their way for use in the UK as a recognized form of payment.”
Yet perhaps the most contentious initiative propelled by Sunak was the Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB). If successfully passed into law, the bill would pave the way for local regulators in the country to possess more power and supervision over the crypto industry, commencing with handling asset-pegged cryptos, especially stablecoins, into the oversight of UK’s payments regulations.
Crypto to be Recognized as a Financial Instrument
In an interesting sequence of events, just this Tuesday, the Parliament’s lower house voted to add crypto assets to the coverage of financial activities to be regulated via the Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB) that Sunak helped proposed.
“The substance here is to treat them [crypto] like other forms of financial assets and not to prefer them, but also to bring them within the scope of regulation for the first time,” said Andrew Griffith, a parliamentarian and a financial services and city minister among those who voted in favor of the bill.
“The Treasury will consult on its approach with industry and stakeholders ahead of using the powers to ensure the framework reflects the unique benefits and risks posed by crypto activities,” Griffith said.
Meanwhile, the local crypto industry saw this as a bullish prospect and a step in the right direction, as they eagerly welcomed Sunak’s appointment as the country’s top official and his clear actions toward giving digital assets the legal recognition it needs.
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