Rishi Sunak, the new British Prime Minister, is an enthusiastic crypto

Rishi Sunak, the new head of the British government is not only the richest parliamentarian in Westminster (he is even wealthier than the king himself) and the son-in-law of the one known as the “Indian Steve Jobs”. He is also a well known enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies.

Sunak’s positions with respect to economic policy go in a very specific direction, as has already become clear during his office in Finance Minister during Boris Johnson’s government: opposition to an increase in taxes and public spending, even against the carbon taxthe tax designed to encourage lower CO consumption₂. Sunak has built a career working in large financial institutions, such as the Goldman Sachs bank.

In his previous role, Sunak presented a plan to make the UK a “global technology hub for crypto assets “. One of the proposed initiatives involved the introduction of stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency with a less fluctuating price than traditional ones, within national payment systems. The relative stability of these assets however, it does not protect you from riskseven huge, as we have seen with the infamous story of Terra, the currency that in a few days suffered a spectacular collapse, pulverizing sixty billion in capitalization.

The new prime minister has also proposed some laws for regulate the use of crypto assets in the British economic system, in order to encourage investments, both domestic and foreign, in the sector. Parliament is currently analyzing a legislative proposal that it should give to local authorities of the kingdom the ability to adjust in a manner relatively autonomous cryptocurrencies on their territory: the goal would always be to incentivize investments.

In 2021, Sunak he had even advanced the idea of ​​a digital currency issued directly by the British central bank, nicknamed “Britcoin”which was supposed to enter the country’s economy by 2025. A digital currency created and managed by a central bank (or CBDC, acronym for Central Bank Digital Currency) is different from a cryptocurrency, which is essentially based on a decentralized protocol. Sunak was among the promoters of a agreement between the G7 countries on digital central currencies, which established a set of common principles for their adoption.

It is still too early to tell but the “Britcoin” project could come back to the fore during Sunak’s rule. However, experts have warned about privacy issues that could arise from the introduction of the CBDC: user transactions would in fact be easily accessible by state authorities. In general, however, the crypto world is unlikely to take priority within the new government’s policies – the United Kingdom has many others. knots to untieboth at a political and fiscal level, after the bankruptcy of the very short government of Liz Truss.