Bitcoin: a strategic imperative for nation states and their citizens

This Bitcoin Policy UK briefing paper argues that the UK needs a Bitcoin policy, comparing the absence of one to not having an internet policy in 1994. Published in August 2024, it notes that the UK was then the third largest nation state holder of Bitcoin, with around 61,000 coins worth more than three billion pounds, and that HMRC research showed millions of UK citizens held cryptoassets. It warns against selling these holdings, pointing to the recent sale of Bitcoin by the Free State of Saxony and to the sale of almost 400 tonnes of the UK's gold reserves, which it says has led to losses of more than twenty billion pounds.

Its first recommendation is that the government should let Bitcoin businesses and holders operate freely in the UK, with access to bank accounts, an end to the FCA's ban on retail access to exchange traded notes and a more favourable tax regime. Second, it should commission feasibility studies on Bitcoin mining's role in reaching net zero, including a review of methane from UK landfill and farm biogas and the use of mining as a flexible buyer of curtailed wind energy, citing a billion pounds a year of wind power wasted through grid constraints. Third, it should keep its Bitcoin as a Treasury reserve asset alongside gold, building on what the paper calls a first-mover advantage.