UK plans to issue NFTs

4 avril 2022

Will the UK create and issue its first NFT? In any case, this is what the British Chancellor of the Exchequer (the equivalent of the Minister of Finance in France) Rishi Sunak wants, starting this summer. More accustomed to minting gold, silver and pound coins, the Royal Mint, an agency created in 886, will have to change register and appropriate the characteristics of digital technology. The goal for the country seems obvious: to establish itself as a global center of crypto-asset technology innovation and “lead the way in cryptocurrency,” according to City Minister John Glen.

NFTs, for non-fungible token, are digital assets registered in the blockchain. They represent an object, a work, a photo, a patent (and much more), to which a digital identity is attached, and have a digital certificate of authenticity. From then on, this file becomes in a way "unique" and the buyer obtains exclusive ownership of it. NFTs have become particularly trendy after their massive adoption by stars, influencers and other large companies ready to invest in this new universe. And for the first time, a country seems about to take the plunge by valuing this market via its own token.

An essential hub

In addition to the creation of an NFT by the government, City Minister John Glen announced other measures regarding digital assets and cryptocurrencies. The government wants to regulate stablecoins (stable currencies with low volatility often backed by the dollar to enable trade) in order to use them as a means of payment. An initiative that would pave the way for wider adoption of cryptocurrencies. However, these currencies are regularly criticized, particularly Tether, whose capitalization exceeds 80 billion dollars but whose funds are not fully supported.

Other, more opaque proposals, such as the creation of a consultation to regulate the trade of other cryptocurrencies or the examination of the legal status of DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) will be put on the table. The government also wants to create an engagement group around cryptoassets chaired by ministers. This group will invite members of UK regulators and crypto-asset companies to discuss ecosystem issues.

NFT and metaverse already plummeting in Internet searches

"We shouldn't think of regulation as a static, rigid thing," John Glen told the Global Finance Summit in London. "Instead, we should be thinking in terms of regulatory code — like computer code — that we refine and rewrite when we need to." If none of these proposals have yet been put to the vote, one thing is certain: like the United States, the United Kingdom wants to take advantage of the new possibilities offered by these cryptoassets to become an essential blockchain hub in the world.