Matt Vickers

Blockchain is a new architecture for trust, for transparency, and for value creation. Whether it is powering Stablecoins, enabling secure digital identities, or creating new pathways for cross-border trade, its impact is already visible. We need to devise policies that are adaptable to change, and yet robust enough to provide certainty for investors, innovators, and consumers. We call this approach “future-proof regulation" - building regulatory systems that can evolve alongside technological advances.

The UK has long been a global leader in financial services. Today, we have a unique opportunity to lead again – this time in building the digital infrastructure that will define the future of finance.

Around the world, governments are racing to modernise capital markets. From stablecoins and tokenised bonds to blockchain-based settlement and smart contracts – new technologies are reshaping the global financial order. But many of these efforts are happening in isolation. Instead of making things simpler, they are creating more complexity: more systems, more confusion, more risk.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The UK has a unique opportunity to show the world how digital finance can work better – for business and consumers alike. We can set an example by offering clear rules and practical technology that connects markets, not divides them, with the City of London as the engine driving this transformation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has had discussions with the British Blockchain Association on the potential of blockchain technology to (a) reduce fraud, (b) enhance transparency, (c) improve costs and (d) provide efficiency in cross-border trade and commerce.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support the use of blockchain technologies in (a) trade, (b) commerce, (c) logistics and (d) supply chains.

"Matt Vickers MP is the Chair of APPG on Blockchain Technologies. He is the Conservative MP for Stockton West, and has been an MP continually since 12 December 2019. He currently undertakes the role of Shadow Minister (Policing and Crime)."

Matt Vickers MP is the Chair of the APPG on Blockchain Technologies.

Cryptocurrency has fundamentally and permanently changed the way criminals and terrorist groups launder, move and spend their money. It is right for the Government to move quickly to ensure that our police and enforcement agencies have the authority and means to respond to those changes. The ability to do so successfully will play a vital role in our national security.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made towards making the UK an attractive place for cryptocurrency companies to operate.