The Conservatives are expected to decide between Rishi Sunak and LizaTruss as their next party leader on September 5, at which point Johnson will officially step down.
Rishi Sunak, former prime minister of the Exchequer, and Liz Truss, Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, two of the eventual candidates to become the UK’s next prime minister, are both expressing support for cryptocurrencies.
With Prime Minister Boris Johnson out of office, Sunak and Truss are vying to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and the country, with their views on digital assets likely to influence financial policy. Under Johnson, Sunak asked the country’s Royal Mint to create an indelible token as part of an effort to make the UK a global crypto hub.
Previously, a member of Parliament who held the post of prime minister from 2020 until resigning in July, Sunak said the UK government will prioritize financial technology, including its digital currency of central banks and stablecoins, which aim to help the country keep pace with innovation. He is also the man behind many of the financial services reform proposals that drive the adoption of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
Truss, who has been Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development from 2021 and Minister of Women and Equality since 2019, serving under three prime ministers, has called for an anti-regulatory approach to cryptocurrencies in 2018 in an attempt for the UK to embrace the technology. In her role as Secretary of State for International Trade, the congresswoman launched a digital trade network in 2020 with measures including promoting fintech companies to “enable digitization and recovery capabilities in priority export markets.”
Amid Johnson’s expected departure, policy decisions have continued to be made in the UK, Nadhim Zahawi, who replaced Sunak as prime minister of the Exchequer, introduced the Financial Services and Markets Bill on July 20, which contained the regulatory framework for stablecoins. The House of Commons Treasury Committee has also opened an inquiry allowing UK residents to write letters about the role of crypto assets in the country.
The Conservatives are expected to decide on Sunak and Truss as their next leaders on September 5, at which point Johnson will officially step down. On Tuesday, the two candidates participated in a televised debate that was cut short after moderator Kate McCann fainted during the broadcast.