The UK government will no longer push with its plans of releasing Royal Mint-produced non-fungible tokens or NFT. The project was first proposed in April 2022, but since then, the plan did not move forward.

But while it appeared to have been shelved for now, the nation’s economic secretary, Andrew Griffith, said on Monday, March 27, that the NFT proposal would remain under review. What is certain at the moment is the fact that the U.K. government's economic and finance ministry is calling off the scheme of releasing a government-backed digital token designed to make the United Kingdom a global cryptocurrency hub.

CoinDesk mentioned that the Royal Mint NFT project was proposed in April 2022 by the country’s current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, when he was still Chancellor of the Exchequer. At that time, the Royal Mint was given the assignment of releasing the NFTs by the summer of that year. However, it faced a series of delays, so in the end, the drop did not happen.

"We want to see the cryptocurrency businesses of tomorrow - and the jobs they create - here in the U.K.,” Sunak said back then. “By regulating effectively we can give them the confidence they need to think and invest long-term."

In any case, Harriet Baldwin, the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, further stated that the chief financial minister would be asked if the issuance of NFT in the future remains a policy in his department.

"We have not yet seen a lot of evidence that our constituents should be putting their money in these speculative tokens unless they are prepared to lose all their money,” Baldwin said in response to the cancellation announcement for the release of government-backed NFTs. “So perhaps that is why the Royal Mint has made this decision in conjunction with the Treasury.”

BBC News reported that the cancellation of the NFT launch was announced by the U.K. Treasury after a consultation with the Royal Mint.

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