The new UK government formed by Liz Truss has pledged to embrace opportunities around cryptocurrency.
The Financial Services and Markets Bill saw its second reading in Parliament this week and will now be examined at the committee stage in Westminster.
The bill is intended to help regulators govern crypto used for payments like stablecoins.
Richard Fuller, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said the government wants the UK to be the “dominant global hub for crypto technologies”.
Speaking of “powerful” use cases for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, including customs, international trade and the storing of medical records, Alexander Stafford said the Prime Minister – sworn in on Tuesday following the resignation of Boris Johnson – “reaffirmed” her commitment to crypto.
“As crypto technologies grow in significance, the UK government are seeking ways to achieve global competitive advantage for the United Kingdom,” said Fuller.
“We want to become the country of choice for those looking to create, innovate and build in the crypto space.
“By making this country a hospitable place for crypto technologies, we can attract investment, generate new jobs, benefit from tax revenues, create a wave of groundbreaking new products and services, and bridge the current position of UK financial services into a new era.”
The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act, which will grant new powers for the seizing of cryptoassets to law enforcement, will also continue.
“The UK can either be a spectator as this technology transforms aspects of life, or we can become the best place in the world to start and scale crypto technologies,” said Fuller.
“We want the UK to be the dominant global hub for crypto technologies, and so will build on the strengths of our thriving FinTech sector, creating new jobs, developing groundbreaking new products and services.”
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Cryptocurrency shorts
Mysten Labs, the company behind layer-1 blockchain Sui, has raised $300 million. Founded by former Meta executives, the round was led by FTX Ventures.
Community Labs has raised $30m to power software development and a venture studio for Arweave’s permanent storage blockchain ecosystem. The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Arweave, Bain Capital Crypto, Blockchain Capital, Distributed Global and Road Capital Management alongside others.
Hubble Protocol, behind the censorship-resistant USDH stablecoin borrowing platform, has completed a $5m strategic round led by Multicoin Capital. It enables the Solana DeFi community to mint and borrow USDH.
Subscription app Stack has raised $2.7m to teach people about crypto.
Automotive manufacturer Ford is moving into the Metaverse after filing 19 trademark applications around its brands for virtual vehicles as well as clothes and NFT marketplaces.
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the more than 20,900 coins is at $1.02 trillion at the time of writing (7am UK), a 4.5% increase in the last 24 hours.
Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – gained 6% to top $20,500. BTC is 2% up on its price a week ago.
Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – rose 4% to around $1,700. ETH is 8% up over the course of a week.
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to assist its aim in becoming the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token added 4% to $290, leaving it 4% up over seven days.
The XRP token of Ripple, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP climbed 4% to 35c, with its price 5% up on seven days ago.
Cardano is an open source network facilitating dApps which considers itself to be an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, rose 3% to 49c and is 8% up in a week.
Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralised finance accessible on a larger scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token gained 9% to $35.28, 12% higher than its price a week ago.
Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralised web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, gained 6% to $7.65 and is 6% up on its price a week ago.
Meme coin DOGE was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies but is now a major player in the space. DOGE rose 3% to 6.3c and is 1% up over seven days.
Polygon aims to securely connect blockchains as a sort of decentralised internet. Its MATIC token rose 4% to close on 88c, while it is slightly down in a week.
Avalanche is a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments. Its AVAX token gained 6% to $20.11 and is 5% up on a week ago.
To see how the valuations of the main coins have changed in recent times – and for round-ups of recent cryptocurrency news developments – click here.
For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.