With the Unitedย Kingdom seeking to become a cryptocurrency hub, the Winklevoss twins are advising the Unitedย Kingdom Government to not let itself be influenced by the politicisation of cryptocurrency in the US.
Unitedย Kingdom regulation is encouraging
The Winklevoss twins, American billionaire owners of the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, are in London holding talks with numerous British financial bodies such as the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Althoughย while in London, the Gemini owners gave an interview to City A.M., in which they advised Unitedย Kingdom politicians not to โpoliticiseโ the governmentโs regulatory stance towards cryptocurrencies.
The Winklevoss twins were stated to be โencouragedโ by the direction the Unitedย Kingdom is taking on cryptocurrency regulation and were of the opinion that it was โforward thinkingโ. They said:
โWe are encouraged [by] the state of regulation here. We know ofย course the Unitedย Kingdom has a huge tradition of being a thoughtful regulatingย authority and a forward thinking regulatingย authority. And thatโs why we chose to be here โ thereย is manyย of credibility,โ
โWe made that decision to invest here years ago, and weโre here to express that we want continuation to do that and make the Unitedย Kingdom a home for crypto.โ
They commented that they were โsurprisedโ by theย pastย few report by the Unitedย Kingdom Treasury Select Committee stating that digitalย currencies should be treated as โgamblingโ, and made the comment that if this were the case then perhaps commodities like oil and gold canย potentially go into the same category.
Mixed noises from the Unitedย Kingdom financial institutions
The Unitedย Kingdom has so far made as numerous positive noises on cryptocurrency as it has negative, with Prime Minister Sunak declaring that the Unitedย Kingdom wished to become a worldwide hub for cryptocurrency (when he was Chancellor).ย
Nonetheless, it would seem for a country so embedded in the traditional financial system, with its City banking operation one of the most powerful in the world, that to go the path of inviting cryptocurrency corporations to establish shop there canย potentially be an incredibly difficult route to take.
In the past, the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has wasย known cryptocurrency โdangerousโ, even while acknowledging that manyย of innovation was coming out of the sector. He has stated that he doesnโt believe cryptocurrency will provide a future payments network.
With the Unitedย States likely to be applying pressure on the British Government in the background, and with what has been termed an โoverly bureaucratic regulatory environmentโ by CEO of Revolut, Nik Storonsky, as the BoE looks to be in theย procedure of turning down a banking licence for the UKโs largest startup, the comingย weeks and months are going to be critical for the UKโs fledging cryptocurrency sector.
