UK government rejects lawmaker's call to treat crypto like gambling

The government added that it is already working on regulating the crypto market, and a bill was introduced in parliament and debated last month.

The UK government has rejected a proposal made by the House of Commons Treasury Committee to regulate crypto retail in the same way it oversees gambling, stressing that it "strongly disagrees" with the committee's position.

In a May 17 committee report, a panel of UK lawmakers called for regulating the UK crypto market in the same way as gambling. The Treasury Committee has declared that crypto investment activity is consistent with the “same risk, same regulatory outcome” principle.

UK Financial Services Minister Andrew Griffith, in a July 20 response to the committee, rejected the proposal and said the UK Treasury strongly disagreed with the committee's "recommendation to regulate retail trading and investment activity in unsecured crypto-assets as a game rather than a financial service".

In the UK, all forms of gambling are regulated by the Gambling Act 2005. Businesses, including bingo halls, lotteries, betting shops, online bookmakers and casinos, are subject to scrutiny in an effort to tackle compulsive gambling and implement anti-money laundering measures.

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The government response noted that such an approach has the potential to completely counter recommendations accepted globally by international organizations and standards bodies. The UK government believes the committee's recommendations have the potential to create unclear and overlapping mandates between financial regulators and the Gambling Commission.

The government added that it was already working...