Lisa Cameron, a member of parliament for the United Kingdomโs House of Commons, is reportedly chairing a lobbying group aimed at promoting crypto-related legislation in government.
According to a Friday report from the Financial Times, members of parliament, as well as members of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom,ย launched the Crypto and Digital Assets Group to ensure rules for the crypto industry in the U.K. โsupport innovationโ as of last week. The cross-party group aims to protect investors from financial crimes, including token scams or offerings from regulated companies.
โWe are at a crucial time for the sector as global policymakers are also now reviewing their approach to crypto and how it should be regulated,โ said Cameron.
The countryโs self-regulating trade group for the crypto industry, CryptoUK, reportedly backed the creation of the advocacy group. According to CryptoUK executive director Ian Taylor, the group intends to spend more than $67,000 in 2022 to support the Crypto and Digital Assets Group, with a focus on โeducation, education, educationโ around crypto assets.
In 2021, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority issued numerous warnings to retail investors, advising them of the potential risk in dealing with crypto firms not yet registered with the countryโs financial watchdog. The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority, the countryโs independent advertising regulator, also removed advertisements from crypto firms including Coinbase and Kraken.
Related: Bank of England governor issues crypto investment warning
The seemingly growing concern over crypto scams and illicit transactions in the U.K. comes as a report from Chainalysis showed scammers received $7.8 billion in crypto stolen from victims over 2021, of which more than $2.8 billion came from rug pulls. Chainalysis attributed the prevalence of rug pulls to the โhype around the spaceโ in addition to the lack of code audits for certain DeFi projects.
