Former UK Chancellor George Osbourne warned the current government is at risk of missing out on the crypto wave as they are lagging behind in the global race. Can the U.K. catch up?
Summary
- Former U.K. Chancellor and Coinbase Global Advisor George Osbourne says the U.K. risks falling behind to the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore and Abu Dhabi if it doesn’t embrace crypto soon.
- The U.K. has yet to make major moves in terms of regulatory frameworks that accommodate crypto and has maintained a cautious approach towards digital assets.
According to a recent report from the Financial Times, former Chancellor George Osborne harshly criticized the government’s cautious approach to cryptocurrencies. He believes the region is at risk of “missing out” on the crypto wave that’s sweeping the globe, much like how it was late to embrace the major financial reforms of the 1980s.
“We became the world’s financial center because we weren’t afraid of change,” said Osborne as quoted by the Financial Times.
“On crypto and stablecoins, as on too many other things, the hard truth is this: we’re being completely left behind. It’s time to catch up,” he continued.
He said that blaming regulators for being overly cautious towards digital assets is just a “lame excuse.” Therefore, he believes the U.K. should follow in the U.S’ footsteps by establishing a crypto regulatory framework to accelerate the region’s industry.
He pointed out that in terms of the global crypto race, the U.K. was at risk of falling behind compared to regions like the U.S., Singapore, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi which have taken steps to accommodate crypto developments with regulations and government initiatives.
Is the U.K. really missing out on the crypto wave?
Compared to the U.S. and Hong Kong, two regions that have recently launched regulatory frameworks boosting the stablecoin sector, the Bank of England has been more reluctant to embrace stablecoins.
Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey said in a previous report that the BOE remains unconvinced that it would utilize much of its resources into stablecoins, due to the lack of protection and guarantees offered by traditional bank deposits as well as the risk of them upstaging traditional fiat currencies.
“There may well be a role for stablecoins going forward, but I don’t see them as a substitute for commercial bank money,” he said.
Moreover, the U.K. has yet to establish a legal crypto framework like the the EU has with its MiCA regulation. Although the U.K. published a crypto‑asset regulation consultation in February 2023, as of August 2025, it has still not tabled draft legislation or implemented a unified licensing regime.
While Euronext‑listed crypto exchange‑traded note or ETNs and spot‑Bitcoin ETFs have been available to EU and US retail investors since as early as 2018 and January 2024 respectively, the UK only started consulting in mid‑2025 on lifting its retail ban on cryptocurrency derivatives and ETNs. The implementation is planned for October 8, 2025.
What is much more damning is the fact that U.K. financial regulators are planning to enact a ban that would prohibit retail investors from using credit card balances and other borrowed funds to invest in cryptocurrency. The move was announced in May, following the crypto boom fueled by the U.S.
Although the aim is to protect retail investors, critics have warned that pushing retail traders away from regulated credit may lead them to seek unregulated shadow‑market lenders.
The government’s defense
Back in April, acting chancellor Rachel Reeves stated that she wanted to make Britain “the best place in the world to innovate”. The Treasury expressed an eagerness to put in place “robust rules around crypto” in order to further boost investor confidence, support the growth of fintech and protect traders in the U.K.
In addition, the current government claimed that it was in the process of establishing a technology partnership with the U.S. as part of an ongoing trade deal.
“We’re doing quite a lot in this space,” said one Reeves ally in the Financial Times.
U.K’s controversial ban on Coinbase ad
After stepping down as chancellor, Osborne is currently serving as a member of the global advisory council of U.S. crypto-exchange Coinbase. His comments come after public backlash erupted after Coinbase’s latest ad got banned by U.K. TV networks.
On August 4, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong criticized the state and the institutions who refused to air the ad. He highlighted the outdated views on cryptocurrency that still persist in the region.
“There are people in the UK who still think of crypto as some kind of gambling product (a very outdated view), and have completely missed the potential of crypto which is to update and improve the financial system for the benefit of everyone,” said Armstrong in a recent post.
“We welcome the attacks and any other attempts to censor this message, as it just helps it spread,” he added.
