UK Investment Firm Wants Blockchain Traded Fund (BTF) Established

The Investment Association, an asset management industry in the United Kingdom, has called on the government and financial regulators to approve blockchain-traded funds (BTF) with digital tokens substituting traditional shares.

Subsequently, they made this push via a 32-page brochure entitled “Investing For The Future,” published on their official website on June 7, 2022.

In detail, the trade body wants the government to establish a new class of funds employing blockchain technology. A new task force will be established examining how distributed ledger technology speeds up the creation of new products and services.

Furthermore, they believe there are possible significant cost savings for end investors and the simplification of the existing procedures of buying and selling mutual funds.

According to reported sources, Chris Cummings, the CEO of the Investment Association, stated it was crucial that policymakers, regulators and investment industry participants work together to “drive forward innovation without delay”. In his words:

Greater innovation will boost the overall competitiveness of the UK funds industry and improve the cost, efficiency and quality of the investment experience.

Additionally, John  Glen,  Economic  Secretary  to  the UK  Treasury, commented that there is a need for a “dynamic” approach in regards to regulation. He said, “We should be thinking in terms of regulatory ‘code’, like computer code which we refine and rewrite when we need to.”

Moreover, the UK government recently exhibited some flexibility in its ruling. In July 2021, they mandated that crypto-asset firms collect personal information of the beneficiary of a crypto asset transfer. However, they repealed this ruling after public demand.