On Monday, the United Kingdom government declared plans to mint its non-fungible tokens, as part of a push towards emerging as a ‘world leader’ in the crypto world. Rishi Sunak, the Finance Minister asked the Royal Mint – the government-owned firm responsible for minting coins for the U.K. – to create and launch the NFT ‘by the summer,’ said John Glen, City Minister, at a fintech event in London. He added that there will be more details available very soon.

According to Glen, the plan is a part of a wide effort by the government to ‘lead the way’ in crypto. The minister declared several steps the U.K. will take to bring digital assets under more regulatory scrutiny, including initiatives to:

• Bring specific stable coins into the U.K. payments system so that stable coin service providers and issuers can grow and operate in the U.K.
• Ask the Law Commission to think about the legal status of blockchain-based communities called as DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations).
• Consult a ‘world-leading regime’ for regulating trade in crypto, including Bitcoin.
• Set up a Cryptoasset Engagement Group that will be chaired by host members and ministers from U.K. regulators and crypto businesses.
• Monitor the tax treatment of DeFi (decentralized finance) loans and ‘staking,’ which offers crypto users the ability to earn interest on their savings.