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Kate Plummer
Apr 04, 2022
How to Avoid NFT Scams
Indy
Rishi Sunak has been utterly roasted for jumping on the NFT trend at the worst possible time.
The treasury announced Royal Mint - the government owned company that produces coins - has been asked to make one of the digitised tokens which are traditionally purchased using different cryptocurrencies.
They said it will be available in the summer, so get excited.
"Chancellor Rishi Sunak has asked @RoyalMintUK to create an NFT to be issued by the summer," the department revealed.
"This decision shows the the forward-looking approach we are determined to take towards cryptoassets in the UK."
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Rather than finding it "forward-looking", people thought it didn't look like the best investment given the cost of living crisis especially as Sunak was criticised for not doing more to support those in need.
People also pointed out concerns around the security of the NFT sector, not to mention their environmental impact.
Here's a taste of the reaction:
People's priorities https://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026— Nadine Batchelor-Hunt (@Nadine Batchelor-Hunt) 1649081247
Issuing a vanity asset beset by fraud and scams six months or so after nerd interest has peaked?\n\nIt certainly shows a lot about the UK approach here, but I\u2019m not sure it shows what they might hope.https://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026— James Ball (@James Ball) 1649081482
Remember: Sunak said (about the cost-of-living-crisis) after criticism of his Spring Statement \u201cI can\u2019t do everything\u2019 \n\nThere are things he could do and things he shouldn\u2019thttps://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026— Tim (@Tim) 1649080939
Massive idiocy during an energy crisis (or possibly at any time).https://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026— lucy siegle (@lucy siegle) 1649081912
Government finally transitioning into its final phase: That ratiod guy on the internet moaning that somebody stole his monkeyshttps://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026— James Felton (@James Felton) 1649081232
I\u2019ll take 5 of your best NFTs please shopkeep https://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/4giHq41rqT— Dan Rattigan (@Dan Rattigan) 1649081321
Chancellor lending his support to a ridiculous speculative bubble? \n\nOptics definitely look great during a cost of living crisis https://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026— Will Hazell (@Will Hazell) 1649081465
Looking forward to the select committee hearing later this year in which Rishi Sunak has to explain how someone stole all his apeshttps://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026— Alan White (@Alan White) 1649081578
Fair play for creating literally the possession I least want in the world.https://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026— Daniel Storey (@Daniel Storey) 1649081707
\u201cChancellor what action are you taking to help millions of desperate of families with the cost of li-https://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026— Tom Peck (@Tom Peck) 1649080829
Very proud to announce that I was commissioned to come up with the first ever Rishi Sunak/Royal Mint environmental disaster digital wallet tracking scam, I mean NFT. Bidding in untraceable Rishidollars commences at 42Billionpic.twitter.com/e1buprr0k7— HappyToast \u2605 (@HappyToast \u2605) 1649083310
People in the UK: Please help, we cannot afford food or heating... our energy bills have doubled...\n\nRishi: Haha ok hear me out... what if we minted the cost of living crisis, but *as an NFT*https://twitter.com/hmtreasury/status/1510971092072079360\u00a0\u2026— Zing Tsjeng (@Zing Tsjeng) 1649082225
But when asked to comment, the Treasury provided this statement from Sunak:
“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.
“We want to see the businesses of tomorrow – and the jobs they create - here in the UK, and by regulating effectively we can give them the confidence they need to think and invest long-term.
“This is part of our plan to ensure the UK financial services industry is always at the forefront of technology and innovation.”
A spokesperson from Royal Mint added:
“We are currently developing our first NFT (non-fungible token) range. It will be available from Summer 2022, and we will share further details in due course.
“The Royal Mint is one of the world’s leading providers of premium collectables, making this a natural progression for us. By creating NFTs we plan to help customers own digital collectables in a secure and trusted way, while engaging a new audience with The Royal Mint.”
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