The UK government has ditched Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's plan to get the Royal Mint to create a non-fungible token.
Sunak asked for the NFT to be created last April, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer. At the time, the Treasury tweeted: "This decision shows the forward looking approach we are determined to take towards cryptoassets in the UK."
However, economic secretary Andrew Griffith now says: “In consultation with HM Treasury, the Royal Mint is not proceeding with the launch of a non-fungible token at this time but will keep this proposal under review.”
Labour's shadow City minister Tulip Siddiq responds. “I’m glad that the Royal Mint has finally made the Conservatives see sense, but we’ve been calling on the chancellor to drop this crypto gimmick for months.”
The Treasury's initial announcement came as NFTs exploded in popularity, with many reaching multi-million dollar valuations. However, the bottom soon fell out the market amid the general crypto winter and the growing interest of speculators, posers and scammers.