Britain will move forward on crypto regulation and mint an NFT this year, minister says

euronews.com:

The UK government plans to issue its own non-fungible token (NFT) as an "emblem of the forward-looking approach" the country is taking toward crypto assets, Britain's minister responsible for financial services, John Glen, has revealed.

The NFT will be issued by the Royal Mint, the institution responsible for minting the UK's hard currency, at the request of the UK finance minister, Rishi Sunak.

In a speech at the Innovative Finance summit in London on Monday, Glen also confirmed the British government's intention to regulate the crypto industry, saying that it had heard some of the "valid" concerns about the risks involved.

"If crypto-technologies are going to be a big part of the future, then we – the UK – want to be in, and in on the ground floor," he said.

The government will begin to regulate some stablecoins - cryptocurrencies that are pegged to the value of fiat currency or commodities in order to reduce their volatility - in order to bring them in line with current rules on payment providers, Glen said.

"This will also enable consumers to use stablecoin payment services with confidence," he added.

The UK's plans reflect a more active stance toward crypto-assets taken by a number of governments in recent years.

Crypto advocates say the technology will make payments faster, easier and more transparent, while skeptics worry it could be used for illegal activity like money laundering and has a high carbon footprint because of the heavy computing power needed to process transactions.

In March, the European Parliament backed proposals to make crypto transactions traceable in a similar way to traditional banking, while US President Joe Biden took a step toward regulating crypto when he signed an executive order on digital