The British government has announced plans to mint its own NFT. This initiative forms part of a broader strategy to make the UK a leading example in the cryptocurrency sphere, in the aim of becoming a key international hub.
Is the United Kingdom about to create and issue its first NFT? That's what the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, hopes to achieve as early as this summer. More accustomed to minting gold, silver and pound coins, the Royal Mint -- founded in 886 -- is now set to change style and embrace the digital world. The goal for the country seems obvious: to become a global center of technological innovation in cryptoassets, and to "lead the way" in crypto, according to City Minister, John Glen.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital assets registered on the blockchain. They represent an object, a work, a photo, a patent (and much more), to which a digital identity is attached, and have a digital certificate of authenticity. As such, the file effectively becomes "unique" and the buyer obtains exclusive ownership of it. NFTs have become particularly trendy after their mass uptake by celebrities, influencers and major companies ready to invest in this new world. Now, it looks like the UK could be about to jump into this market with its own token.
Becoming a crypto hub
In addition to the government's creation of an NFT, City Minister John Glen announced several other measures regarding digital assets and cryptocurrencies. For example, the government wants to regulate stablecoins (less volatile cryptocurrencies that are often backed by dollars to enable trading) for use as a means of payment. This initiative could pave the way for the wider uptake and use of cryptocurrencies. Yet stablecoins are regularly criticized, especially Tether, which has a market capitalization exceeding $80 billion, although its reserves are not fully backed.
Other, as yet more opaque proposals are also envisaged, such as the launch of a consultation on regulating the trade of other cryptocurrencies, or reviewing the legal status of DAOs (decentralized autonomous organization). In addition, the government wants to create a Cryptoasset Engagement Group chaired by ministers. This group will invite members of the UK regulatory authorities and cryptoasset companies to discuss the challenges of the ecosystem.
"We shouldn't be thinking of regulation as a static, rigid thing," said John Glen at the Global Finance Summit in London. "Instead, we should be thinking in terms of regulatory 'code' -- like computer code -- which we refine and rewrite when we need to." While none of these proposals have yet been put to a vote, one thing is for sure -- like the United States, the UK wants to take advantage of the new opportunities offered by cryptoassets to become a major global hub for all things blockchain.
