Richard Hammond: UK should make an effort to become the center of cryptocurrencies

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Former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer says the country is lagging behindMost of the neighbors in terms of cryptocurrency regulation should make efforts in this direction.

Lord Philip Hammond now holds the chair of the board of directors of the cryptocurrency custodial service Copper.The former chancellor believes that the country's authorities are not making enough efforts to establish the UK as a center for the cryptocurrency industry. 

Just last year, current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, said
on the need to regulate cryptocurrencies and the use of stablecoins in the payment system.

"The UK needs to get aheadthe rest of the world after Brexit. We have allowed the country to fall behind. Switzerland is ahead, the European Union is also more advanced in this regard. We need the courage to take certain and calculated risks,” Hammond said.

Previously, a large custodial service Copper, which created a division for storing digital assets, filed
application for registration with the regulatorUK (FCA). However, at the end of May last year, the service’s management decided to register in Switzerland. Hammond then cited FCA's sluggishness as the reason for the decision.

Back at the end of 2021, Philip Hammond said that it was unwise to ignore cryptocurrencies, since many European countries had already begun to actively use them.