Rishi Sunak, the current front-runner in the race to become the U.K.’s next prime minister, is a well-known proponent of cryptocurrency.
Sunak won the second round of the contest – which was triggered by the resignation of incumbent Boris Johnson last week – with 101 votes to his name. His nearest rival is Penny Mordaunt with 83 votes, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has 64 votes.
Should Sunak succeed Johnson as the U.K.’s next prime minister, his appointment would not necessarily be good news for individual financial freedom. Besides being a proponent of the cryptocurrency sector, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer is also known to be an advocate for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
While the former seeks to decentralize and democratize finance, critics of the latter point out that programmable money such as CBDCs can be used to centralize financial control.
Sunak for PM and crypto
In ເດືອນເມສາ, Sunak, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, set out his ambition “to make the U.K. a global hub for crypto asset technology.” As part of that drive, Sunak proposed that stablecoins should become a recognized form of payment within the country. The Chancellor went on to ask the Royal Mint to create “an NFT [ທີ່ບໍ່ແມ່ນ fungible token] for Britain.”
Announcing the policy agenda at the time, the Chancellor said: “It’s my ambition to make the U.K. a global hub for crypto asset technology, and the measures we’ve outlined today will help to ensure firms can invest, innovate and scale up in this country.”
ໃນເດືອນມິຖຸນາຄ. ສ. Tether announced that it would launch GBPT, a pound-pegged stablecoin ສໍາລັບຕະຫຼາດອັງກິດ.
Source: https://beincrypto.com/uk-leadership-race-front-runner-rishi-sunak-crypto-advocate/