Former Financial Secretary to the Treasury (EST) Tulip Siddiq reportedly didn’t meet a single crypto firm on behalf of the brand new UK Labour authorities, in response to unnamed trade insiders talking with Sifted.
Certainly, in response to Sifted, Siddiq truly canceled conferences with crypto corporations.
Siddiq turned the EST, in any other case often called Metropolis Minister, in July and helped introduce the UK’s 2026 crypto regulation roadmap as a part of her position overseeing the monetary companies trade. Nonetheless, she resigned this month following strain within the wake of an anti-corruption investigation.
In response to the aforementioned insiders, her contribution to crypto regulation wasn’t sufficient and she or he didn’t make the house a precedence. “The optics mean a lot to business guys particularly if you’re an American VC,” they advised Sifted.
Sifted additionally realized through a freedom of data request that the earlier Conservative authorities spent 5 years lobbying funding powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) to open a crypto workplace in London.
A16z shuttered its UK workplace final Friday whereas Anthony Albanese, the COO of ai16z’s crypto arm, claimed it will concentrate on the US “given the new administration’s strong policy momentum.”
He stated, “This doesn’t change our confidence in the UK’s growing role in crypto and blockchain. We will continue to invest in great entrepreneurs no matter where they are in the world, including the UK.”
A16z modified its tune after two years in UK
When a16z first opened its UK crypto workplace in 2023, the US and the actions of the Securities and Change Fee had been thought-about unfriendly in direction of crypto.
In a gathering in April 2023 between the previous Financial Secretary Andrew Griffith and Brian Quintenz, a16z’s world head of coverage, Quintenz reportedly stated, “The lack of regulatory clarity in the US is helping bad actors and hurting good ones, as those who follow ethical and regulatory good practice are left at a competitive disadvantage.”
Nonetheless, after crypto lobbyists raised $197 million to spend on the US election and Donald Trump’s return, political attitudes in direction of crypto turned extra favorable. A16z founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz each supported Trump.
