Share this article
UK NFT Dropped Over Lack of Demand, Finance Minister Hunt Says
The Royal Mint was asked to create a digital token last year, when NFTs were much more popular.
Updated Mar 29, 2023, 4:58 p.m. Published Mar 29, 2023, 12:23 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
The U.K. government wasn't convinced about the demand for a NFT issued by the Royal Mint, Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said in a Treasury Committee meeting on Wednesday.
Last April, the Royal Mint was tasked by then-Finance Minister, now Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to create a non-fungible token, but on Monday, the government announced that it decided to drop the highly anticipated project.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
"I think it's a question of demand," Hunt said. "I think we always want to be at the cutting edge in the U.K., in terms of new technology, but the world has changed significantly since then and we're not convinced that the demand is going to be there in the same way."
The NFT sector, which attracted lots of attention from celebrities and the media, peaked in January 2022 with $5 billion in global sales on some days, according to blockchain data tracker CryptoSlam. The most recent 24-hour sales data is just $44.3 million.
The U.K. government to this point has publicly been undeterred by the crypto winter, continuing to insist its crypto hub ambitions remain.
More For You
More For You
The hardware hurdle: Cysic and Cardano clash over the future of decentralized compute
At Consensus Hong Kong 2026, Leo Fan questioned Midnight’s use of Google Cloud and Azure, as Charles Hoskinson justifies hyperscaler partnerships.
What to know:
- At Consensus Hong Kong 2026, Cysic founder Leo Fan warned that blockchain projects relying heavily on hyperscalers like Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure risk recreating single points of failure that undermine crypto’s decentralization ethos.
- Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson defended partnerships with major cloud providers for the Midnight privacy-focused network, arguing that global, privacy-preserving systems require hyperscaler-level compute while cryptography and confidential computing protect underlying data.
- The debate between Hoskinson and Fan centers on how to define decentralization, with Hoskinson prioritizing cryptographic neutrality over hardware ownership and Fan urging a hybrid model that limits reliance on Big Tech and extends decentralization to the compute layer itself.
Top Stories
