The United Kingdom‘s rocky relationship with cryptocurrency continues as the UK parliament and crypto critics demands that the government take a tougher stance on the expanding cryptocurrency business.
The UK Parliament demands the government take a tougher stance on crypto
According to iNews, British Members of Parliament (MPs) and campaigners are urging the UK government to take a tougher stance on the expanding cryptocurrency business.
“It’s the Wild West,” Conservative MP Richard Holden told iNews, “this grey area between highly leveraged financial investments on the one hand and these goods that could quite easily and rationally be labeled gambling on the other.”
“In order to safeguard people, there needs to be a clear distinction there,” he continued.
Soccer teams’ rising interest in fan tokens
Former advisor to former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Matt Zarb-Cousin, took aim at soccer teams’ rising interest in fan tokens.
Fan tokens are cryptocurrencies that are linked to a soccer team. Some of the world’s most prestigious soccer clubs have already spent more than $350 million on fan tokens, but they have proven to be divisive.
“I think it’s on another level for football [soccer] clubs to sell gambling to supporters, which might lead to people losing their lives as a result,” Zarb-Cousin added.
“It’s even worse to be selling people a path into bitcoin under the guise of empowering them in an effectively unregulated space.”
This isn’t the first time the cryptocurrency business has caused a stir in the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom’s rocky relationship with cryptocurrency
The crypto sector has been regarded with mistrust in the United Kingdom over the last 12 months.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued five concerns about the cryptocurrency business in January 2021, including a perceived lack of consumer protection and misleading advertising.
Binance, one of the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency exchanges, has also been targeted by the regulator. The FCA notified Decrypt in the summer of 2021 that it had a “major issue” with Binance’s lack of a headquarters.
After a Binance UK firm failed to give even basic information to the regulator, the FCA doubled down and stated that Binance was “not capable” of being regulated in September.
Binance has recently stated that it is attempting to repair relations with the FCA. However, there is no evidence that their efforts have been successful.
When it comes to deceptive advertising, the FCA isn’t the only regulator concerned about cryptocurrency.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has spent the last year pursuing Coinbase, Papa John’s, eToro, and a number of other cryptocurrency companies for their crypto advertising practices.
“We regard this as a critical and high-priority topic for us. Wherever we uncover issues, we will address them immediately “Last summer, Miles Lockwood, the ASA’s head of complaints and investigations, stated.
So, how about soccer clubs?
Binance, Coinbase, and well-known corporations like Papa Johns have all been criticized in the UK for their crypto-related activities, but Arsenal FC has recently been under fire for the creation of its AFC fan coin.
Arsenal FC’s tokens adverts were prohibited by the advertising authority in December 2021, claiming that they “trivialized investment in crypto assets and took advantage of consumers’ inexperience and naivety.”
It remains to be seen whether other well-known teams with fan tokens, such as Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, would face similar opposition.
