Rishi Sunak Becomes UK Prime Minister — He Wants to Make Britain a Global Crypto Investment Hub

Britain’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has become the country’s new prime minister, succeeding Liz Truss who resigned after 44 days in office. The leader of the Conservative Party previously said: “It’s my ambition to make the U.K. a global hub for cryptoasset technology.”

Rishi Sunak Takes Office as U.K. Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak, who served as Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer from 2020 to 2022 and chief secretary to the Treasury from 2019 to 2022, has become the prime minister of the U.K. He succeeded Liz Truss, who resigned after 44 days in office as prime minister.

Sunak formally accepted his new role from King Charles during a meeting at Buckingham Palace on Monday after winning the Conservative Party leadership.

Many people have called Sunak pro-crypto for his efforts to make Britain “a global hub for cryptoasset technology and investment,” as announced by the U.K. government in April. He said at the time:

It’s my ambition to make the U.K. a global hub for cryptoasset technology, and the measures we’ve outlined today will help to ensure firms can invest, innovate and scale up in this country.

The British government also affirmed that it will “see stablecoins recognized as a valid form of payment as part of wider plans to make Britain a global hub for cryptoasset technology and investment.” Moreover, the government noted that it “will explore ways of enhancing the competitiveness of the U.K. tax system to encourage further development of the cryptoasset market in the U.K.” Sunak also commissioned the Royal Mint to create a non-fungible token (NFT).

“We want to see the businesses of tomorrow — and the jobs they create — here in the U.K., and by regulating effectively we can give them the confidence they need to think and invest long-term,” Sunak opined. “This is part of our plan to ensure the UK financial services industry is always at the forefront of technology and innovation.”

Sunak also said in January:

Cryptoassets can provide exciting new opportunities, offering people new ways to transact and invest – but it’s important that consumers are not being sold products with misleading claims. We are ensuring consumers are protected, while also supporting innovation of the cryptoasset market.

However, the new prime minister is also pro-central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which has caused concerns among some crypto advocates. In October last year, he explained how CBDCs could benefit businesses and consumers as the G7 issued a report on the subject. Sunak also set up a taskforce to lead the U.K.’s work on a central bank digital currency.

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Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.