UK Government Cancels NFT Plan, Proposal under Review

The UK government decided to scrap its plans to release government-backed NFTs, which are supposed to boost the country’s position in the Web3 space, UK Economic Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Griffith said.

Griffith’s remarks came following his consultations with the UK Treasury, clarifying: “the Royal Mint is not proceeding with the launch of a Non-Fungible Token at this time but will keep this proposal under review,” according to BBC.

Chair of the Treasury Select Committee Harriet Baldwin pointed out that the chancellor of the Exchequer will be asked whether it remains the policy of his Department that the Royal Mint issued a Non-Fungible Token.

“We have not yet seen a lot of evidence that our constituents should be putting their money in these speculative tokens unless they are prepared to lose all their money. So perhaps that is why the Royal Mint has made this decision in conjunction with the Treasury,” Baldwin noted.

In April 2022, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, asked the Royal Mint to create the NFT, which was expected to be released this summer, although the Royal Mint and Treasury did not elaborate on what the NFTs would do and how they would be used.

NFTs are immutable virtual assets having pre-programmed scarcity, making them an excellent instrument for representing ownership of virtual assets such as in-metaverse products or virtual real estate. NFTs can be turned into 3-dimensional avatars that users could transport from one metaverse environment to another. These digital items may be exchanged, personalized, and even monetized at the owner’s discretion.