Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made towards making the UK an attractive place for cryptocurrency companies to operate.

The government set out at Fintech Week our firm ambition to make Britain a global hub for cryptoasset technology and investment. We want to ensure firms can invest, innovate and scale up in this country. And we have announced a number of reforms which will see the regulation and aspects of tax treatment of cryptoassets evolve – our clear message to cryptoasset firms is that the UK is open for business.

These include committing to consult on a future regulatory regime later this year; legislating to bring stablecoins into payments regulation; setting up a ministerial-chaired Cryptoasset Engagement Group, bringing together key figures in industry; working with the Royal Mint to create a Non-Fungible Token; and exploring ways of enhancing the competitiveness of the UK tax system to encourage further development of the cryptoasset market in the UK.

These commitments are in line with our objectives to create a regulatory environment in which firms can innovate, while crucially ensuring financial stability and high regulatory standards so that people can use new technologies both reliably and safely.