Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the policy of (a) Gibraltar, (b) Switzerland and (c) Malta on cryptocurrencies; and if he will make a statement.

The government has established a Cryptoassets Taskforce, consisting of HM Treasury, the Bank of England, and the Financial Conduct Authority. It is exploring the impact of cryptoassets, the potential benefits and challenges of the application of distributed ledger technology in financial services, and assessing what, if any, regulation is required in response. The Taskforce will report back by the end of summer.

As part of this work, officials will be looking further at international approaches and working closely with our international counterparts, for example through the OECD and G20.