Rishi Sunak has become the U.K Prime Minister as Liz Truss resigned last week. After winning the leadership of the Conservative Party, he accepted his new role formally from King Charles on Monday. He has already served as Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer from 2020 to 2022 and chief secretary to the Treasury from 2019 to 2022.

As a newly appointed PM, Sunak delivered his first speech outside Downing Street. He proposed his determination to “fix the mistakes” made by his predecessor Liz Truss.

The crypto industry expectantly believes in Sunak’s ambitions to revolutionize and shape the future landscape of cryptocurrencies in the nation of Islands and globally. In one of the announcements made by the U.K. government in April 2022, that time he was serving as the United Kingdom’s  Finance Minister, he affirmed, “It’s my ambition to make the U.K. a global hub for crypto asset technology, and the measures we’ve outlined today will help to ensure firms can invest, innovate and scale up in this country.”

The UK Government also claimed to “See stablecoins recognized as a valid form of payment as part of wider plans to make Britain a global hub for crypto asset technology and investment.”  they further stated that the Government “will explore ways of enhancing the competitiveness of the U.K. tax system to encourage further development of the crypto asset market in the U.K.” 

The 42-year-old investment banker-turned-politician Sunak oversaw an initiative with the Royal Mint to step into and create an exclusive non-fungible token (NFTs). Also engaged a group of industry experts to work closely with the upcoming. To encourage the use of blockchain technology in the country, he worked closely with a Financial Conduct Authority-led ‘CryptoSprint’ while he was serving as a chancellor.

Sunak opined “We want to see the businesses of tomorrow — and the jobs they create — here in the U.K., and by regulating effectively we can give them the confidence they need to think and invest long-term. This is part of our plan to ensure the UK financial services industry is always at the forefront of technology and innovation.”

What do crypto industry experts have to say?

Within two days of Sunak’s appointment as the UK Prime Minister, Lisa Cameron, chair of the  Crypto and Digital Assets All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) from the Scottish National Party has persuaded the Governement of Britain to clarify the promises Sunak made to the Crypto industry.

London-based Mehdi Sunderji, who has twenty years of experience as an investor said that the UK is considered one of the thought leaders and “influencers” despite its current political events. He further said, “Sunak is putting things into motion already with the UK lawmakers, who are now recognizing crypto as a regulated financial instrument.”

The lower house of the UK Parliament, the House of Commons, on Oct 25, 2022, a day earlier Sunak became the PM, voted to assign cryptocurrency assets as regulated financial products and instruments.

“Rishi Sunak is a fintech evangelist. His becoming PM is a big positive for crypto. Sunak stated his intention to make the UK a crypto hub while serving as chancellor,” said Rajagopal Menon Vice president of WazirX, a cryptocurrency exchange & trading platform.

He further informed, “He introduced the Financial Services and Markets Bill, which, if it becomes law, could grant local regulators extensive control over the crypto industry, beginning with the inclusion of asset-pegged cryptocurrency like stablecoins under the purview of payment regulations. Under his direction, the Royal Mint, which produces the nation’s coins, was given the responsibility of developing a non-fungible token (NFT) collection.”

Sanjay Mendis, a Sri Lanka-based cryptocurrency and Blockchain strategist, “I feel a drive from Sunak will certainly assist regulation. However, one cannot expect miracles to happen, as implications of changing financial policies need to be tested.”

Even billionaire Changpeng Zhao expects big things in the UK with Sunak’s entry as PM.

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform, tweeted, “Said hi to RishiSunak for 2 seconds on Jun 20 (4 months ago, at a party). Didn’t have a chance to chat. He just demonstrated a small setback often leads to big wins in the long run. Hoping for big things in the UK.”

Sharat Chandra, co-founder of, India Blockchain Forum said, “Being a vocal supporter of digital assets, Sunak, in his new role, can potentially shape conversations to drive immediacy in digital asset regulation.”

Conclusion

The New UK prime minister can bring paradigm shit to the crypto industry, however, Rishi Sunak also has been in support of CBDCs, the Central Bank Digital Currencies. In 2021, he proposed “Britcoin” to come into play across the UK economy by 2025.

Almost 19 countries in the G20 group are exploring a CBDC, with 16 already in the development or pilot stage including South Korea, Japan, India, and Russia.

“Rishi Sunak is supposedly a pro-crypto politician who is now at the helm of affairs in the UK. A significant chunk of the population in the UK is still skeptical about cryptocurrencies. Sunak’s appointment could likely bring a revolutionary paradigm shift in that. However, there is a catch! Rishi Sunak has been a long-time proponent of the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs),” said Edul Patel, CEO, and co-founder of Mudrex, a Global Crypto Investing Platform, he concluded by saying, “it remains to be seen whether the crypto community would be excited about this appointment. However, it builds a strong case for the common people’s awareness of blockchain and cryptocurrency.”