Her Majesty's Treasury plans the UK's first-ever official NFT by summer this year
India Today
The UK has shown a very adaptive approach towards cryptocurrencies and related assets. It now reiterates this commitment with new plans for the country's first official NFT.
The NFT craze is not confined to a portion of internet users who see millions of dollars worth of potential for apes or cats. Prominent agencies either have or wish to get on the NFT bandwagon. The latest example is the UK government's economic and finance ministry, better known as Her Majesty's Treasury.
The idea is to come up with the first-ever official NFT of the United Kingdom. For this, Her Majesty's Treasury has tasked The Royal Mint, an agency owned by the UK government to mint the country's currency, to come up with the NFT by the summer of this year.
The announcement was shared recently in a tweet through the official account of Her Majesty's Treasury. The tweet mentions that Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer (Her Majesty's Treasury), has handed over the responsibility of the NFT production to Royal Mint. Though the tweet does not give out any more details, it does mention that the NFT will be issued "by the summer."
The bigger takeaway from the announcement is the country's approach toward crypto-assets. The UK has been adoptive of cryptocurrencies and related assets forever, even coming up with legislation around their use to keep the booming industry under check. NFTs have been a critical part of the crypto and blockchain world and attention to them is a clear indication that the country is ready to adopt not just cryptocurrencies but also related technologies.
The tweet also hints at this, stating that the decision "shows the forward-looking approach we are determined to take towards crypto assets in the UK."
The UK government is taking such steps in a bid to promote financial innovation on these grounds. It has been inclusive of cryptocurrency firms and has laid down some directives on which they are supposed to run. This "innovation of the crypto-asset market" was also attempted by the UK government's earlier decision to lay down new mandates for the promotion of crypto investments in the country. Instead of banning cryptocurrency trading altogether like some other countries, the UK decided to regulate the market.
It also mitigates another increasing concern. Research conducted last year revealed that while the number of cryptocurrency investors is rising, the understanding of a cryptocurrency is actually on the decline. In the UK, around 2.3 million people are believed to own a crypto asset right now, a figure which is steadily increasing. The wide uncertainty poses a risk that these crypto assets "could be mis-sold," the UK government highlights. Research by the FCA also presented this potential for harm to consumers.
