Distributed Ledger Technology

(asked on 8th January 2019) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) fiscal and (b) regulatory steps his Department is taking to (i) support UK and (ii) encourage overseas blockchain and crypto-based companies establish themselves in the UK.


Answered by
John Glen Portrait
John Glen
Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This question was answered on 11th January 2019

The Government has invested over £10 million through Innovate UK and the research councils to support a wide variety of DLT related projects. The Government has also created a £20 million GovTech Catalyst Fund to explore technology-based solutions for public sector challenges, potentially including the use of DLT.

The Government set out its approach to cryptoassets and the underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the report of the Cryptoassets Taskforce[1]. The Government wants to encourage responsible development of legitimate distributed ledger technology (DLT) and cryptoasset-related activity in the UK, while also mitigating risks.

The financial regulators continue to provide a platform that facilitates innovation and the development of new technologies in the financial system. For example, the Financial Conduct Authority has accepted a significant number of DLT-based projects into its Regulatory Sandbox. The Bank of England has also committed to ensure that its new RTGS service will be compatible with DLT-based payment systems.

[1] The full report of the HM Treasury/Financial Conduct Authority/Bank of England Cryptoassets Taskforce is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/752070/cryptoassets_taskforce_final_report_final_web.pdf

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