At the Coinbase Crypto Forum, former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivered a sharp critique of the UK’s failure to adopt crypto innovation.
They warned that the UK is falling behind in crypto, AI, and core policy areas like housing and healthcare.
Clegg and Osborne Warn UK Risks Falling Behind in Crypto
George Osborne was candid about the UK’s crypto regulatory inertia.
“We’re still living in the shadow of the 2009 financial crisis,” he said. “There is zero incentive for financial regulators to support crypto innovation.”
The former chancellor also argued that the government should change its mandate; it should be judged not just on consumer protection, but also on fostering innovation.
Osborne reflected on the UK’s missed opportunities. He recalled that over a decade ago, he used a Bitcoin ATM in Canary Wharf to promote crypto innovation.
“Ten years ago, I used a Bitcoin ATM in Canary Wharf. What I wanted to do at the time was embrace innovation, financial innovation is at the heart of the City of London, but in the ten years since Britain has missed the boat on crypto and other jurisdictions,” Osborne said.
Meanwhile, Nick Clegg cautioned that China is asserting digital sovereignty and exporting a model of a closed internet. He said, this requires political will from the US, India, and Europe to build guardrails that ensure an AI-powered internet remains open.
He said that blockchain and decentralised technologies are critical tools to defend the open web against authoritarian pressures.
Clegg also added that AI adoption will be slower than many expect. This is because companies struggle to get employees to use the technology effectively.
The two also reflected on their time in government, admitting where major opportunities were missed.
“The greatest failure of the UK government when I was in power was housing. We should have built far more homes,” Clegg acknowledged.
Osborne added that healthcare reform was his own policy regret. “We did well on clean energy, but not on health reform.”
Clegg, who stepped down from his job as president of global affairs at social media giant Meta earlier this year, also commented on Meta’s failed Libra stablecoin, noting that it likely would have succeeded had it not been linked to Facebook.
Both leaders emphasized that political will and regulatory reform are essential if the UK hopes to remain competitive in the blockchain, crypto, and AI-driven digital economy.
