Philip Hammond, a former Chancellor of the United Kingdom has raised concerns the country is slipping behind its rivals in the European Union when it comes to the regulation of crypto.
He served as the U.K’s Chancellor stated that there has been a distinct lack of direction and unity when it comes to crypto policy.
He also stressed that the development of digital trading infrastructure will be key to turning the U.K. into a hub for trading tokenized traditional assets, such as tokenized equities and tokenized bonds.
The former minister’s criticisms came despite promises from the U.K. government in May to introduce legislation to regulate the crypto industry.
Hammond said that while the country has been very agile in embracing new technologies” in the past, this hasn’t been as apparent when it comes to crypto regulation, adding that it was likely due to a mix between a bandwidth issue and a capacity issue.
Hammond said that regulators have been dealing with a period of immense stress dealing with the consequences of Brexit, Covid-19, and its impact on their own working arrangements. He is no stranger to the crypto industry, currently serving as a senior advisor to copper.co since October 2011, a London-based start-up firm that provides custodial and infrastructure services in the digital asset sector.
