As the youngest Prime Minister to take office in the UK in over 200 years, he is a crypto enthusiast.
A former investment banker turned politician, Rishi Sunak has had an incredibly prolific career in a short period of time. At just 42 years old, he has served as a UK Member of Parliament, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and now begins his term as Prime Minister.
As the youngest prime minister to take office in the UK in over 200 years, Sunak has something else in common with his fellow Millennials: he’s a crypto enthusiast.
In fact, as a recent Bank of America survey found, “young investors choose to allocate significantly more of their cryptocurrency portfolios” than their older counterparts. Additionally, those in the 21-42 age bracket are “most likely to believe that cryptocurrencies offer the greatest growth opportunities” and allocate an average of 15% of their portfolios to cryptocurrency investments, compared to 2% invested by crypto investors over 42 years old.
The difference is that Sunak keeps his fondness for crypto to himself; furthermore, it is capable of advancing the industry in entirely new and exciting ways. It can propose laws, issue regulations, and promote new ideas.
Sunak may pave the way for the migration from Web2 to Web3, which will draw heavily on technologies such as cryptocurrencies, but will also include non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the advent of the metaverse, among others, and potentially create a Web3 Hub outside the UK in no time.
Sunak’s Viewpoints
What was expressed above is not pure speculation, Sunak himself said it, in the following terms:
“My ambition is to make the UK a global hub for cryptocurrency technology,” Sunak said as Chancellor of the Exchequer, emphasizing the need to “ensure businesses can invest, innovate and grow in this country.”
As acting finance minister under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the Stanford graduate has promoted various cryptocurrency-related initiatives, as part of an overall agenda aimed at normalizing and advancing the UK crypto ecosystem.
A tweet by @hmtreasury, the UK Government’s economic and finance ministry, had announced earlier this year that, “Chancellor @RishiSunak has asked @RoyalMintUK to create an NFT to be issued by the summer.”
PM’s Next Steps
If you were to guess what the Prime Minister’s first steps might look like in the coming months, cryptocurrency regulation would be a good thing, if not at least a safe bet.
“By regulating effectively,” Sunak said, “we can give [the businesses of tomorrow] the confidence they need to think and invest in the long term.”
Recently, the European Parliament committee finally approved the much-discussed text for the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, with the White House publishing what it described as the “first comprehensive framework for the responsible development of digital assets.” These would be a very good sign for the industry as a whole.
By 2023, the global crypto landscape could be completely different, more advanced, more regulated, more pervasive, and broader. And this is positive.
The eyes of the world are watching how the youngest Prime Minister in British history deals with the “youngest” innovation of our time. He will just need luck and bull markets for a smooth ride ahead.
By Audy Castaneda
