cointelegraph.com
The United Kingdom’s controversial far-right National Liberal Party (NLP) has published what it describes as the country’s first coherent cryptocurrency policy.
On Aug. 24, the NLP wrote a fresh post on its website arguing that the UK’s current cryptocurrency policy is a non-policy and that not only the government, but all of the country’s leading political parties, have failed to formulate a workable cryptocurrency agenda.
Failures of the political mainstream
The NLP’s policy strikes an alarmist tone, opening with the assertion that “UK Citizens have been defrauded by crypto criminals to the tune of billions” and that fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes continue to target consumers and operate with impunity.
It goes on to characterize the official policy of the U.K’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as troubling, citing the following paragraph as evidence of the watchdog’s failure to protect the public:
“Consumers should be mindful of the absence of certain regulatory protections when considering purchasing unregulated cryptoassets. Unregulated cryptoassets (e.g. Bitcoin, Ether, XRP etc.) are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and consumers do not have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service.”
The NLP levels criticisms both at the sitting Conservative government — which it says claims to believe in the necessity of crypto regulation but has failed to implement a program — and at the opposition Labor party. It states, disapprovingly:
“The Labour Party [...] believes Cryptocurrency is a Ponzi Scheme and would regulate it out of business according to Diane Abbot speaking as Shadow Home Secretary.”
“The NLP believes cryptocurrency is here to stay”
NLP claims it “stands for the future of finance and integrity” and that it has taken the time to understand new financial technologies, rather than to ignore or attempt to eliminate them.
The party, the post states, believes cryptocurrency is here to stay and cam offer an alternative to traditional fiat currencies. It notes that the new asset class can supply wealth, capital and jobs if political actors are willing to cultivate it responsibly.
As regards criminal misuse of cryptocurrency, the policy argues for vigorous punishment, advocating for similar penalties as for money laundering. It further proposes that:
“Victims of cryptocurrency crime and fraud should be compensated from a fund established by the cryptocurrencies and exchanges that do business in the UK. If a voluntary fund cannot be established, a transactional tax should be imposed to fund the initiative.”
The FCA’s policy of allegedly ignoring the new asset class should be reversed: strong support should be provided for the victims of fraud and the UK should pursue a set of advanced initiatives designed to promote cryptocurrency as well as its self-regulation.
This, the party claims, will “make the UK a center of legitimate cryptocurrency finance and not the center for crypto crimes that it is today.”
Earlier this month, Stephen Bannon — co-founder of Breitbart News and former chief strategist for President Donald Trump’s administration — stated that he sees Bitcoin (BTC) as part of a "global populist revolt."