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Great Britain announces a plan to mint NFTs through the Royal Mint in a bid to 'lead the way' in the increasingly digital economy
Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Great Britain announces a plan to mint NFTs through the Royal Mint in a bid to 'lead the way' in the increasingly digital economy

On Monday, the British government announced its plans to move forward with minting its own non-fungible tokens (NFT) as it attempts to become a "world leader" in the cryptocurrency space in the global economy.

British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak asked the Royal Mint — the entity responsible for the manufacture of the United Kingdom's currency — to create and issue the NFT "by the summer," CNBC reported.

The United Kingdom's NFT initiative is the British government's attempt to "lead the way" in crypto, according to City Minister John Glen.

Glen stated that there are a number of regulatory steps the U.K. plans to introduce to bring digital assets — like NFTs and Bitcoin — scrutiny.

These include:

  • Regulate stablecoins with existing regulations on electronic payments;
  • Strategizing on a "world-leading regime" for regulating trade in other cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum;
  • Asking the British Law Commission to consider the legal status of blockchain-based communities;
  • Examine the taxability of decentralized finance loans and interest gaining services;
  • Establishing a Cryptoasset Engagement Group that will be an official government body and will engage with British regulators and cryptocurrency-oriented businesses;
  • Explore the possibility of using blockchain technology in regulating debt instruments.

Glen said, "We shouldn't be thinking of regulation as a static, rigid thing. Instead, we should be thinking in terms of regulatory 'code' — like computer code — which we refine and rewrite when we need to."

He also said that the British government was "widening" its gaze to look at introducing more diverse regulations on the ever-expanding world of cryptocurrency, including the burgeoning Web3 movement, which would establish a more decentralized global internet that is powered and regulated through blockchain technology.

"No one knows for sure yet how Web3 is going to look," Glen said. "But there's every chance that blockchain is going to be integral to its development. We want this country to be there leading from the front, seeking out the greatest economic opportunities."

Similarly, across the pond, the American federal government is continuing to move forward with the development of a central bank digital currency — fully digitizing the U.S. dollar — and preparing to regulate the cryptocurrency holdings of the American public.

In an era with historic levels of regulation, the wages and savings of the American people are constantly losing value, and storing money in a savings account with a sub-1% interest rate is becoming less appealing to more and more people. So naturally, they're looking for a more secure alternative other than storing cash under their mattresses.

There are currently trillions of dollars invested in cryptocurrencies for these very reasons, and the more that government tries to regulate them, the less appealing they become to potential investors.

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