George Osborne Sounds Alarm: UK Falling Behind in Crypto Race as Rivals Surge Ahead

Former Chancellor George Osborne drops a bombshell—Britain's crypto competitiveness is crumbling while global players sprint ahead.

Regulatory paralysis meets institutional inertia

While Singapore fast-tracks licenses and Dubai rolls out crypto free zones, Whitehall remains stuck debating basic frameworks. The Treasury's 'wait-and-see' approach now looks more like 'watch-and-lose' as Web3 startups bypass London for friendlier hubs.

Traditional finance's loss could be crypto's gain

High street banks still treating digital assets like radioactive waste might regret their hesitation when decentralized finance eats their lunch—again. After all, nothing disrupts like a technology that cuts out middlemen while they're busy writing risk assessments.

The clock's ticking for UK plc

With every delayed policy decision, the country's chance to lead in this $2T sector slips further away. Unless Westminster stops treating crypto like a niche hobby for tech bros, the next wave of financial innovation will wash up elsewhere—taking jobs and tax revenue with it.

Reeves’ ally claims Britain is doing ‘quite a lot’ in crypto

One of Reeves’ allies claimed that the country was “doing quite a lot” in the crypto space, arguing that Britain was by far the largest center for European fintech. The Chancellor’s ally pointed out that Britain was closely working with the U.S. to FORM a tech partnership as part of the U.S.-UK trade agreement. 

However, Osborne remained unconvinced, wondering what Reeves meant by saying she would continue to “drive forward” on stablecoins. He also mentioned that the BoE’s Governor was unconvinced that the country’s commercial banks should issue stablecoins. Bailey argued that the hesitation risked irrelevance. 

“There may well be a role for stablecoins going forward, but I don’t see them as a substitute for commercial bank money.”– Andrew Bailey, Governor of BoE

Bailey worries that fluctuating stablecoin values could fragment the country’s monetary system. Last month, he said stablecoins needed to meet “a test of money,” hoping they could hold their “nominal value.” He prefers that the BoE and high-street banks issue tokenized deposits instead of stablecoins.   

Morris says the FCA’s cautious approach is ‘understandable’

Charlie Morris, the founder of ByteTree, said the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) had understandably taken a cautious approach to crypto due to Bitcoin’s erratic past. However, he acknowledged that Bitcoin would soon become essential to Britain’s financial landscape in the coming years.

The ByteTree boss asserted that it was time for Britain to revise its crypto policy. He argued that the FCA continued applying outdated classifications restricting Bitcoin’s legitimacy for businesses. Morris also pointed out that this flaw had allowed the issuance of unregulated tokens to spread.

Osborne cited the lack of regulatory clarity, urging the British government to establish strong crypto frameworks. He stressed that the country had already missed the first wave of opportunities in crypto and should not repeat the mistake in the next digital finance evolution.

Osborne is concerned that “more agile jurisdictions” shaping the next phase of crypto’s evolution will disadvantage the UK. He called for the government to be more proactive in embracing blockchain technology. Osborne pointed out that the UK lacked leadership, not talent or opportunity. 

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