After a year-long hiatus, a parliamentary group in the UK is working to bring cryptocurrency back to the forefront of the legislative process.
New co-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Crypto and Digital Assets -- Gurinder Singh Josan and Edward Vaizey -- are urging lawmakers to establish clear rules of the road.
Or else.
Singh Josan, a Labour Party backbencher, warns that the government's failure to pass meaningful legislation risks pushing businesses to more welcoming jurisdictions.
Worse, sluggish lawmakers could lead to more money in the hands of dodgy schemes, he warned
"That's not just bad for jobs and investment, it also risks pushing UK consumers towards unregulated offshore providers," Singh Josan told DL News.
The call to action echoes that of the broader industry lobby.
Over the past few months, representatives from industry heavyhitters like Coinbase and Ripple have lamented that Britain is falling behind other regions.
The European Union has started to enforce its own crypto laws via its sweeping MiCA framework, and the US has approved a stablecoin bill and is eyeing a new market structure bill for this autumn.
'The sector is growing fast, consumer adoption has doubled since 2021, and other countries are racing ahead with regulation.'
The UK, however, has no stablecoin legislation, lacks rules on who actually owns digital assets, and has no law regulating cryptoasset firms.
Instead, regulators, such as the Financial Conduct Authority, have interpreted existing rules far too strictly, industry members argue.
The FCA has, among other measures, introduced strict marketing rules that saw firms like Binance and PayPal suspend their UK crypto services.
The UK is also losing out on initial public offerings due to a general lack of liquidity that has seen the likes of fintech stalwart Revolut and crypto exchange Bitpanda snub London to list in New York instead.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and a slew of other cryptocurrencies have hit record highs, with market watchers expecting more to come.
Bitcoin has surged 32% this year, reaching an all-time high of $124,000 in August. The crypto market has risen to be worth over $4 trillion.
And UK residents increasingly want to trade with the digital dosh. About 12% of UK adults now own crypto, up from 4% in 2021, according to government estimates.
"Crypto isn't coming, it's already here," Singh Josan said. "The sector is growing fast; consumer adoption has doubled since 2021; other countries are racing ahead with regulation."