The UK government rejects lawmakers’ call to treat crypto as gambling

The UK government has rejected a proposal by a UK Treasury committee to regulate cryptocurrency trading in the same way it oversees gambling, stressing that it “strongly disagrees” with the committee’s position.

A panel of UK MPs called for regulation of the crypto market in the country on a par with gambling in a May 17 House of Commons committee report. The Treasury Committee said that crypto investment activity is consistent with the “same risk, same regulatory consequence” principle.

UK Financial Services Secretary Andrew Griffiths rejected the proposal in a reply to the committee on 20 July, stating that HM Treasury strongly disagrees with the committee’s recommendation to ban retail and investment activities in non-backed crypto-assets. Regulate as a gambling rather than a financial activity. employment”

In the UK, all forms of gambling are governed by the Gaming Act 2005. Businesses including bingo halls, lotteries, betting shops, online bookmakers and casinos are being investigated in an effort to curb compulsive gambling and enforce anti-money-laundering measures.

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The government response states that such an approach may completely contradict the globally agreed recommendations of international organizations and standard-setting bodies. The UK government believes that the Commission’s recommendations could lead to unclear and overlapping mandates between financial regulators and the Gambling Commission.

The government said that they are already in the process of regulating the crypto market and a regulatory bill proposal was submitted to the parliament and discussed last month. Speaking of setting standards for the crypto industry and crypto companies, the government said:

“HM Treasury and the FCA will work with industry to ensure that crypto companies are fully aware of the standards required for approval on the FSMA gateway. Further information will be provided in due course to ensure that the standards are clearly available for approval for crypto companies operating in the UK. ,

The government also said that the law could come into force by the end of 2023 and stressed that the recommendations of the committee have also been taken into account.

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