He said Chancellor Rishi Sunak had asked the 1,136-year-old foundation to create the NFT – a type of unique digital asset stored in a blockchain, the same decentralized trading book used to buy and sell cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. – so it could be issued until the summer. Subscribe to Alex Hern’s free weekly tech newsletter, TechScape. “This decision shows the long-term approach we are determined to take to cryptocurrencies in the UK,” the Treasury Department said on Twitter, posting a picture of the royal coat of arms on a blue background. NFTs use the unique value of the blockchain to take ownership of something – tangible or virtual – with increasingly popular pieces of digital art, photos or music. Usually bought and sold by collectors, some NFTs have skyrocketed in value and are worth millions of pounds, as buyers use them to show off their taste or wealth or to guess price fluctuations to make money. The announcement of the Ministry of Finance did not specify which image or object the NFT of the Royal Mint would transfer, if more would be created, or if NFT would be used to create funds for the State. A Finance Ministry spokesman said more details would be announced “soon”. The decision to launch an NFT is likely to be a cause for concern at a time when more than a million people in Britain are expected to fall into poverty this year, as Sunak did nothing more in his spring statement to reduce society’s poorest by raising it. cost of living. as inflation reaches its highest level in three decades. The rise of the NFT has also led to a wave of scams and they have been targeted by hackers, losing huge sums of money to consumers. Sunak said he aspires to make the UK a global hub for cryptocurrency technology through close oversight of the emerging sector. “We want to see tomorrow’s businesses – and the jobs they create – here in the UK, and by effectively regulating, we can give them the confidence they need to think and invest in the long run.” Subscribe to the daily Business Today email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk The government has said it intends to legislate to introduce stablecoins – digital assets typically associated with a fiat currency such as the pound or the dollar – into its regulatory status, meaning that issuers and service providers offering such products in the The United Kingdom should follow the rules set by the UK authorities. Last month, Ukraine announced it would issue an NFT to help pay for its military after the Russian invasion. The global NFT market reached $ 25.5 billion (19 19.4 billion) last year, according to DappRadar, a sales monitoring company, to a dramatic increase of $ 100 million by 2020. As with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, some economists have said that madness bears the hallmarks of a speculative bubble despite its potential as a powerful and innovative new tool for artists, musicians and publishers.
