Rishi Sunak’s “NFT for Britain” plans scrapped after 11 months

The UK government has scrapped plans to create a government-backed non-fungible token (NFT), which was initially ordered by Rishi Sunak in 2022.

In April 2022, Sunak – while serving as Chancellor – told the Royal Mint to create these NFTs “by the summer” to represent Britain’s “forward-looking approach”.

Following Sunak’s announcement, the Royal Mint touted it as “an NFT for Britain” and claimed it would “lead the way for UK currency”.

However, the BBC has reported that plans to issue this NFT have been shelved just 11 months after it was announced. Yesterday (March 28), the Royal Mint announced it was “not proceeding with the launch” following discussions with HM Treasury.

However, economic secretary Andrew Griffiths said Sunak’s proposal would be kept “under review”.

While the Royal Mint did not say why the proposal was being halted, Treasury Select Committee chair Harriet Baldwin said: “We have not yet seen a lot of evidence that our constituents should be putting their money in these speculative tokens unless they are prepared to lose all their money.”

“So perhaps that is why the Royal Mint has made this decision in conjunction with the Treasury,” she suggested.

In the world of gaming, NFTs continue to be a controversial topic. Final Fantasy creator Square Enix has confirmed it will be “most focused” on exploring NFT and blockchain in 2023, and last month revealed its blockchain-based strategy game Symbiogenesis.

The company has also proposed its board replace company president Yosuke Matsuda with someone who brings more experience in blockchain.

However, in an industry-wide report from last year’s Game Developers Conference, 70 per cent of surveyed developers said their studios had no interest in NFTs.

One developer said that NFTs “need to get a better reputation when it comes to the environment and art theft,” while another said “NFTs are, at best, stupid, and at worst, predatory and ecologically dangerous”.

In other gaming news, Naughty Dog has teased plans to launch more games on PC. However, yesterday’s port of The Last Of Us Part 1 has been received poorly due to performance and stability issues.