Britain can't afford to miss the cryptocurrency boom

George Osborne is right to be worried, says James Moore

- By James Moore

When it comes to cryptocurrencies, Britain's on the slow train to nowhere. That, at least, is the view of former chancellor George Osborne, and despite being a moderate crypto sceptic myself, I'm beginning to think he might have a point.

Writing in the Financial Times, Osborne tells the story of how he used Britain's first crypto ATM, handing the “coin” he withdrew to the Treasury. All right and proper. But financially, not so smart. The bitcoin he withdrew is now worth 200 times what it was then.

All of his successors have subsequently made the same promises he made: to put Britain at the centre of the financial revolution that was then just getting underway. But their bombastic talk of making the nation "a leader” wasn't backed by any meaningful action. In the absence of political direction, regulators got scared, putting up restrictions designed to protect - for which read nanny - retail investors, while stymieing the wholesale market's development.

Now phase two is upon us - stablecoins - and it looks like Britain is again going to miss the boat. Stablecoins are much more interesting to me than bitcoin and its chums, because their value is linked to an underlying asset. Take a guess what that asset is in the vast majority of cases. If you said "the dollar", give yourself a gold star. Or a gold stablecoin. America’s openness to this stuff - which Donald Trump put into overdrive - has put it at the head of the pack.