Speeches by Baldwin.

“Mr Butterfill, you wanted to come in on this. I am not entirely convinced that 18-year-olds in my constituency should suddenly be given unfettered access to playing around in these things.”

“For example, would you describe the Trump meme coin as an investment that you think an 18-year-old in my constituency would benefit from owning? That is something that launched, I understand, at about $60 and is trading at about $8 today.”

“You keep saying “asset class”, but it is not really an asset. A cryptocurrency is more a medium of exchange, is it not?”

“To go back to the 18-year-old constituent, you said that there is a benefit to that 18-year-old of investing in a cryptoasset. Can you elaborate a bit more on why it is beneficial to them that that should be something that they can access more easily than traditional stocks and shares?”

“They would be businesses as well.”

“Mr Taylor, how would my constituents benefit from more widespread access to cryptoassets in the UK?”

“You say that there is demand for it. Is it as something to speculate in or gamble with, in effect?”

“I wanted to start by asking Mr Gravelle whether he thinks that the UK is missing out on the growth in the cryptoasset industry. If he thinks that, why does it matter to my constituents?”

“Mr Butterfill, I believe that it is correct to say that 7 million Brits have at some point held a cryptocurrency of some sort. That suggests that it is already quite well established in the UK.”

“In terms of getting a declaration of interest on the record, can you all put up your hands if you own a cryptoasset or bitcoin, or something along those lines?”

“Do you think tulips are more valuable?”

“Mr Youel, what is your view? Are there things that my constituents are missing out on?”

“Professor Yüksel Ripley, are there any additional benefits or harms that my constituents might experience as a result of a wider adoption of cryptoassets in the UK? Professor Yüksel Ripley: Yes, there are certain benefits in terms of payments, particularly cross-border and international payments. Despite all these tech…”

“You would prefer a tulip, would you?”

“In terms of characterisation, would you say this is more like the tulip bulbs of the 21st century?”

“We heard that sanctions evasion was a use case.”

“One thing that neighbourhood policing can tackle effectively is the way in which TikTok is being used to distribute spice-laced vapes to our young people. Will the Minister comment on that?”

“The speculation was inflamed by the Chancellor herself giving a speech at the press conference. Surely one of the most damaging pieces of speculation in the media was that there might be an exit tax on wealthy people fleeing the country. That has only just been ruled out, but many, many people have fled in the interim.…”

“I have one last question. You have been a fascinating panel. However, it struck me that all the conversation has been around assuming a finite stock of property, yet everyone wants to see more homes built. What tax change in the property sector would be the biggest incentive to stimulate not only demand for new housing…”

“Does anyone have any quantification of the impact of the economic activity that occurs when someone moves? I would also be interested to hear whether the anecdotal comments we hear about how the property market is “frozen” at the moment are accurate according to the Zoopla data.”