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Will Rishi Sunak unintentionally push cryptocurrency adoption in the UK with threats of sanctions?
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stirred up controversy with a recent appearance on BBC News regarding the 2024 election. Sunak may be reluctantly pushing cryptocurrency adoption among young British people in between finance sanctions against threats to 18 year olds who avoid enlisting in National Service.
In a recent video shared on The Guardian relationshipRishi Sunak suggests his next term could impose financial, identification and other sanctions on young Britons who refuse to do national service.
If implemented, this measure could push cryptocurrency adoption among sanctioned individuals seeking financial protection. Cryptocurrencies They are often associated with investing, but one notable use case is self-sovereignty for personal finance and censorship resistance.
Rishi Sunak threatens to impose financial sanctions on young people in the UK
In particular, the Prime Minister described the implementation of compulsory national service for 18-year-olds when asked how to apply it.
“Well, there is a range of sanctions and incentives and we are looking at existing models in Europe to get the appropriate combination of both. There are different options (…), whether it’s driving licenses, access to finance and all sorts of other things.”
–Rishi Sunak
Against this backdrop, the show’s host, Laura Kuenssberg, questioned Sunak about threats of financial sanctions.
“Access to financing? So, about people who won’t want to do National Service… What? Will you take away their bank credit cards?
Rishi Sunak, however, did not directly answer the question and concluded by saying that his administration will look for various solutions.
Cryptocurrencies as protection against financial sanctioning measures
Whether ethical or not, cryptocurrencies have been used by people in many countries to escape financial sanctions or other coercion.
As before reported by Finbold Alex Gadstein, Chief Strategy Office of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), believes Bitcoin (BTC) is “bad for dictatorships” due to its “freedom money” properties. In particular, the peer-to-peer nature of technology it is, in Gladstein’s words, the basic use case of Bitcoin.
In addition to Bitcoin, other peer-to-peer, decentralized, permissionless networks such as Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Monero (XMR) and Nano (XNO) are equally capable of increasing individual sovereignty in these respects.
Furthermore, blockchain infrastructures for decentralized finance (DeFi) like Ethereum (ET), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), MultiversX (EGLD) and Radix (XRD) are building financial ecosystems that already move billions of dollars every day without relying on central entities.
Therefore, young Britons who do not want to join National Service may seek alternatives when threatened. Rishi Sunak could, against his will, further push cryptocurrency adoption in the UK by imposing these sanctions. This movement has already been observed in countries such as Venezuela, Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Canada and Argentina.