权力下放的经济潜力

Authors Marcus FosterHead of Policy Campaigns, Startup Coalition Lucia SlaterDirector, Web3 Policy Space AboutStartup Coalition TheStartup Coalition,formerly the Coalition for a Digital Economy(Coadec),is an independentadvocacy group that serves as the policy voice for Britain’s technology-led startups and scaleups.Startup Coalition was founded in 2010 by Mike Butcher, Editor-at-Large of technology news publisherTechCrunch, and Jeff Lynn, Chairman and Co-Founder of online investment platform Seedrs. StartupCoalition works across a broad range of policy areas that matter the most to startups and scaleups:Access to Talent, Access to Finance & Regulation. ExecutiveSummary The technological advances we will see over the next decade, and the UK’s response to them, will defineour future. We have the ability to completely transform our economy, and our economic outlook, if weseize the opportunities afforded to us. Whilst there is a huge amount of talk about new technologicaldevelopments in the news, in Parliament and elsewhere, defining these opportunities is critical. Thisreport is designed to do that for Crypto and Web3 – and to lay out a roadmap for how we fulfil ourpotential in this sector. Crypto and Web3 is a hugely varied sector, and whilst the headlines may be more concerned with thepriceof Bitcoin,startups,protocols and other organisations are continuing to innovate and bringreal-world improvements based on this new technology. Because of this, over the long term this sectorhas grown significantly – and across the world governments are waking up to it. Most significantly, theUSA has moved at a blistering pace since the inauguration of President Trump, but our friends acrossthe pond are not alone. Whether in Asia, the Middle East, or our neighbours in the European Union,governments are understanding the transformative nature of decentralised systems. Competing withcountries across the world is now the UK’s challenge – but what exactly is the opportunity? Our research shows that, by 2035, distributed ledger technology firms could contribute £40bn tothe UK economy. This is a trend we are already beginning to see right now. Between 2017 and 2023, DLT businesseshave grown by nearly a third annually, compared to just 5-6% for the IT services sector, and in 2024were worth £7bn to the UK economy. The UK is well placed to continue to benefit from the growth of Web3. In part, this is because of ourstrong tradition in financial services, and the continuing importance of the City of London globally.However, this is only one part of the UK’s potential. Crypto and Web3 has the potential to revolutionise anumber of key UK sectors: from music, film and other creative industries, to social media and verificationin the age of AI. We have a great footing to take advantage of Crypto and Web3, but our success is not guaranteed.Founders in the sector have told us that they consistently face hurdles – whether in the financialpromotions regime, accessing banking services, or the struggles faced across the UK tech ecosystemwith access to finance and sourcing the right talent. There is one more significant, and more fundamentalissue they face though: UK regulation is not equipped to handle decentralised systems. The benefits and potential of Web3 stem from decentralisation – it's what defines it, and what makes itunique. If the UK is to benefit from the £40bn of economic potential the sector could offer in a decade’stime, this urgently needs addressing. That’s why this report proposes four key recommendations toensure decentralised systems can succeed in the UK: ●Develop frameworks for the new internet era:Establish an objective and clear framework formeasuringdecentralisation,ensuring that protocols meet rigorous standards before beingclassified as such. Adapt and, where necessary, develop effective rules to accommodate and, asappropriate, promote decentralisation. This will provide regulatory clarity, foster innovation, andprotect consumers. ●Explicitly exclude airdrops from licensing and disclosure requirements:In line with HMTreasury’s proposed regulatory regime for cryptoassets, formally exempt airdrops from financialservices licensing and disclosure requirements to avoid stifling innovation in early-stage cryptostartups. ●Tailor requirements for cryptoasset disclosures:Calibrate disclosure requirements to therisks of cryptoassets, discerning between centralised and decentralised protocols, and protocolsinvolving ongoing efforts versus those that do not. ●Prevent market abuse:In furtherance of the goals of the FCA’s proposed Market Abuse regime,introduce a mandatory post-listing lock-up period for insiders to prevent market manipulation insystems that are not yet fully decentralised. These are technical changes, mostly affecting financial services legislation and regulation. However,theireffects will be so much wider. They can give Crypto and Web3 startups the ability to builddecentralised systems, and bring