At the Coinbase Crypto Forum, former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivered a sharp critique of the UK’s failure to embrace crypto innovation.
They also sounded the alarm on looming threats to the open internet.
Clegg and Osborne Warn UK Risks Falling Behind in Crypto
Clegg warned that China is asserting digital sovereignty and exporting a model of a closed internet. He said, this requires political will from the US, India, and Europe to build guardrails that ensure an AI-powered internet remains open.
Blockchain and decentralised technologies, he added, are critical tools to defend the open web against authoritarian pressures.
Osborne was equally candid about the UK’s regulatory inertia.
“We’re still living in the shadow of the 2009 financial crisis,” he said. “There is zero incentive for financial regulators to support crypto innovation.”
The former chancellor also argued that the government should change its mandate; they should be judged not just on consumer protection, but also on fostering innovation.”
Osborne lamented how the UK has fallen behind, recalling his early support for Bitcoin.
“Ten years ago, I used a Bitcoin ATM in Canary Wharf. What I wanted to do at the time was embrace innovation, financial innovation is at the heart of the City of London, but in the ten years since Britain has missed the boat on crypto and other jurisdictions,” Osborne said.
Clegg also reflected on Meta’s failed Libra stablecoin, saying it could have succeeded had it not been tied to Facebook.
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