The UK could “accelerate” its crypto industry and become an “innovation hub for the Web3 economy,” as part of a vision laid out by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
The exchange’s comments coincided with an April 17 Sky News report that the U.K. Treasury would revive an asset management working group focused on working with the private sector to develop crypto regulation.
In an April 16 blog post, Coinbase emphasized that the company was working "seriously" in the UK and Europe. It praised the progressive regulatory work being done in the region, adding that its chief executive, Brian Armstrong, would speak at the London fintech conference and make nine proposals on how the UK could "consolidate its position as a Web3 hub" suggestion. “The UK has been one of our fastest growing user markets, while the EU. will this week adopt the Marketplace in Cryptoassets (MiCA) regulation, which will introduce a new licensing regime across the 27 member states,” the post reads. It added: “In short, what’s happening in Europe is pushing the region to lead and, in terms of embracing the digital economy, the region is preparing for a sea change in the way money is used and thought about.”
The post also outlines Armstrong's nine recommendations to the UK government.
The list includes ensuring cooperation between the banking and fintech sectors, developing a cross-sectoral strategy for technological innovation and digitalization of the economy, and rapidly establishing a regulatory framework for crypto. Additionally, Coinbase outlined topics such as developing a “regulatory framework to facilitate stablecoins,” clarifying the tax treatment of cryptoassets, and developing “plans to enable decentralized IDs (DiDs).”
Ahead of his April 18 speech, Armstrong revealed via Twitter on April 16 that he had met Andrew Griffith, the UK's Economy Secretary and Cities Minister. The Coinbase CEO said he was concerned about the de-banking of some crypto firms in the UK and the negative impact of a 24-hour "cooling off period" on investing in financial product promotions that came into effect under the "Financial Facilitation Regime" in February. According to Sky News, the Treasury will soon revive the asset management task force under the guidance of the City Minister Griffiths.
The Asset Management Working Group was originally established in 2017 to encourage greater communication between the government, the fintech and crypto industries, and the local financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The agency appears to have been relatively inactive over the past few years. However, Sky News said the Treasury, FCA, fund manager bosses and other stakeholders will hold talks this week as the government looks for ways to support the local crypto asset industry.
Notably, on April 17, Griffiths spoke on the first day of the UK FinTech Week conference in London, emphasizing the government’s focus on “promoting innovation by making the UK a safe jurisdiction for cryptoasset activity.” “We laid out our plans in the extensive consultation we published in February, and we want to actively support the use of distributed ledger technology and tokenization where it makes sense,” he said.
