Reform deputy leader Richard Tice lobbied Bank of England on crypto after £9m donation

ملخص مفصل

Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice lobbied the Bank of England over cryptocurrency rules after the party received a £9m donation from a billionaire investor in the industry,…

Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice lobbied the Bank of England over cryptocurrency rules after the party received a £9m donation from a billionaire investor in the industry, The i Paper can reveal.Letters released by the Bank show Tice asked officials for “light touch” regulation on digital currencies, arguing that Britain faced losing financial business to America.Previously private files show he intervened in November last year, four months after the party received a £9m donation from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne.At the time, it was the single largest donation to a political party from a living donor.

Reform’s political opponents argue that such large political donations allow wealthy individuals to buy undue influence in politics.There is no suggestion that Harborne asked Tice to write to the Bank of England or that the Reform deputy leader was acting on his behalf.

Tice says that his intervention is consistent with a longstanding position in support of financial deregulation. Harborne owns a reported 12 per cent stake in Tether, the company behind the stablecoin USDT, a cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value. Britain already has a legal framework for stablecoins, although detailed rules are still being developed.

In the letters seen by The i Paper, Tice wrote to Sam Woods, chief executive of the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority, on 27 November last year raising concerns that Britain was falling behind other countries in creating an attractive market for stablecoins.Tice argued the US was already pushing ahead with new legislation – and a rapidly growing market.“It will not have escaped your attention that in the meantime the US has already passed the GENIUS Act and that US dollar-backed stablecoin issuance is now over $250bn,” he wrote.He added: “With London the largest foreign exchange market in the world, it is surprising that we are not leading global thinking in this area.”Tice, who is…

مطلع المقال، مقتطف من i News. لقراءة المقال كاملًا، افتحه على موقع الناشر.