In April 2022, the United Kingdom had planned to launch a government-backed ‘NFT for Britain’, proposed initally by crypto-friendly Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The initiative was part of the government’s ambition to make the UK a global hub for crypto-asset technology and investment. However, the plans have since been shelved.
The Royal Mint had planned to launch its non-fungible token project by the summer of 2022 but has failed to meet the deadline. When asked by the chair of the Treasury Select Committee on March 27 whether there was still a plan for launching this token, Economic Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Griffith said that HM Treasury is not proceeding with it at this time, but will keep the proposal under review.
Harriet Baldwin, the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee who posed the question in Parliament, later said that constituents should only invest in speculative tokens if they are prepared to lose all their money. She added that this may have been a factor in the Royal Mint and Treasury’s decision not to proceed with their proposed NFT for the Britain concept. The latter has remained somewhat ambiguous, as the two entities have failed to provide further details on its function and usage.
At the time of its announcement, little else was revealed by the government aside from a promise to release further information “soon.” This drew criticism from some quarters, such as Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves of the Labor Party, who argued that this move did not address more pressing issues. “The country is battling a severe cost-of-living crisis, made worse by this Chancellor’s decisions—and yet this is still his priority? It’s utterly hopeless,” Reeves said.
