Rishi Sunak has just been appointed Prime Minister in the UK. And Liz Truss’ successor has been particularly open to cryptocurrencies in the past. What does he really think about it?
Prime Minister particularly open to cryptocurrencies
As several members of the crypto community have pointed out, the Prime Minister sees cryptocurrencies as fundamental to “the businesses of tomorrow.” At least that’s what he said last April on Twitter:
We’re working to make the UK a global cryptoassets hub. We want to see the businesses of tomorrow, and the jobs they create, here in the UK.
Today @JohnGlenUK set out how we are going to encourage crypto investment and technology in UK markets. https://t.co/MdZ5IOLZtH
– Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) April 4, 2022
The Tory MP said he wanted to make the UK a hub for cryptocurrencies, not least to create jobs.
More recently, when asked about his preferences for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), he said he preferred Bored Apes to Cryptopunks, and favoured “a basket of crypto-currencies” rather than just Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH):
The UK’s new PM prefers Bored Apes to CryptoPunks and prefers a basket of different coins (dabbles in shitcoins?)
(Clip from leadership race a couple months ago) pic.twitter.com/3FwMgAPA0s
– db (@tier10k) October 24, 2022
The new British Prime Minister is therefore apparently sufficiently familiar with the ecosystem to know about two major NFT collections. Not surprising when you consider his background
Goldman Sachs alumnus and austerity advocate
Rishi Sunak comes from the world of finance, having started his career at Goldman Sachs. Very wealthy, he was recently the subject of a scandal regarding his wife’s taxes. Politically, however, he is a strong supporter of austerity, as he showed when he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, the equivalent of the finance minister for our British neighbours.
In this role he drew up a £350 billion bailout plan, weathered the Covid crisis only to be beaten by Liz Truss in the last change of Prime Minister. Now appointed at a time of major political and financial crisis, he will steer the UK’s economic policy.
The new Prime Minister is likely to push for the development of a central bank digital currency (CBD) backed by the British pound. On the subject of stablecoins, he recently said that they “need to be introduced into regulation, paving the way for use in the UK as a recognised form of payment”.
Will Rishi Sunak enable the UK to really capitalise on the cryptocurrency ecosystem? He will already have to deal with a particularly clear trust deficit in his party, as well as a particularly salient crisis situation among our neighbours across the Channel.
