Lisa Cameron, a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom since 2015, may not have used the Bitcoin Lightning Network in her time as a lawmaker, but spends a lot of her time in office focused on digital assets.
Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Consensus 2023 conference in Austin, Texas on April 28, Cameron said she first started advocating for crypto-related policies in the U.K. government following one of her constituents being the victim of a rug pull. Since then, the lawmaker has gone on to chair the country’s Crypto and Digital Assets Group and work with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who aims to make the U.K. a “global hub for crypto-asset technology.”
“I’m an advocate for getting regulation in place that makes the most of the potential of the sector whilst protecting consumers,” said Cameron.
Reps from Japan, UK, IMF, and Abu Dhabi discussing global crypto regulation here at #Consensus2023 pic.twitter.com/vTnbC1eunc
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) April 28, 2023
According to Cameron, the fallout from the 2022 crypto market crash provided the U.K. the opportunity to “sit up and take notice” of potential bad actors in the space. Regulators have already announced severe consequences for certain crypto firms not following requirements in advertising services to U.K. customers.
Though many lawmakers and regulators in the United States government seem to view crypto as a polarizing issue — e.g. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s ‘anti-crypto army’ — Cameron suggested that digital assets seemed to be less of a partisan issue across the pond. The MP echoed Sunak’s position of making the U.K. a global hub for crypto, saying she had seen lawmakers from not just one party working to achieve that goal.
“I think in the main it’s coming collectively from a cross-party basis of wanting to overcome obstacles, make sure that we have the guidance that we need and the regulations to maintain our position.”
Related: UK financial watchdog to crypto industry: ‘Let’s work together’
Cameron added that she was “not invested personally” in any cryptocurrency due to perceived conflicts of interest that could potentially affect her objectivity in legislation. However, she added that there was a system in place allowing U.K. lawmakers to hold digital assets.
“There’s going to be very few people over the next ten years that don’t have some involvement in this sector,” said Cameron. “I think Members of Parliament are not immune to what’s going on in the real world.”
Digital asset regulation in the U.K. is partly overseen by the country’s Financial Conduct Authority, which aims to ensure crypto firms comply with Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism requirements. The U.K. government has also been moving forward on the Financial Services and Markets Bill, legislation that proposes regulating stablecoins in addition to supporting “the safe adoption of cryptocurrencies” in the country.
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