Key Takeaways:
- Liz Truss, the British Foreign Secretary, has become the newly-elected PM of the UK
- Truss defeated rival Rishi Sunak to become the leader of the Conservative Party
- The new PM has previously spoken favourably of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC)
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss outran rival Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership race to become the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK). The development comes as great news for Bitcoin (BTC) lovers and the crypto community at large.
Back in 2018, while serving as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Truss came out in strong support of cryptocurrencies.
Through her election, cryptos have acquired a much-needed supporter in one of the top political posts globally. She has now joined El Salvador’s Bitcoin-loving President Nayib Bukele.
Having secured 81,326 votes (57.4%) against Sunak’s 60,399 (42.6%), Truss comes to replace Boris Johnson. The controversial Brexit supporter announced he will step down in early July after he lost the confidence of his ministers. He held the top office since July 2019 following Theresa May’s resignation.
Rishi Sunak, his Government’s Chancellor of the Exchequer and the main challenger to Truss was among the first to step down.
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We should welcome cryptocurrencies: Liz Truss
As mentioned above, the crypto community has every reason to feel excited about Truss’s election. Her stance on cryptos gives hope that perhaps the sector will come under proper legal regulation.
“We should welcome #cryptocurrencies in a way that doesn’t constrain their potential,”
Truss had tweeted.
However, a different outcome would have been no less welcome. Her opponent, Rishi Sunak, is also a supporter of crypto innovation. He and the former economic secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, played a vital role in the framing of a new Financial Services and Markets bill.
The bill passed in the first reading of the House of Commons earlier this month. If adopted, it can bring payments-focused cryptocurrencies like stablecoins into the ambit of regulators.
In April of 2022, Sunak spoke about his plans to turn the UK into a crypto asset innovation hub.
“It’s my ambition to make the UK a global hub for cryptoasset technology, and the measures we’ve outlined today will help to ensure firms can invest, innovate and scale up in this country,“
the then Chancellor of the Exchequer announced.
It remains to be seen if PM Truss will vote to include Sunak in her cabinet. A lot will also depend on the new Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Meanwhile, the new PM has a lot on her plate. Amid the staggering energy crisis in Europe, Goldman Sachs recently said it expects the UK economy will slip into recession in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022.
