UK Inflation Rate Hits 10.1%, UK Bitcoin Community Responds

by · October 19, 2022

UK prices continue to rise, reaching a new 40-year high of 10.1%. According to figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics, the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 10.1% in the 12 months to September 2022, up from 9.9% in August. The 10.1% figure reflects July’s recent high.

The Bank of England is 8% below the inflation target, while interest rates are 2.25%. Source: Bankofengland.co.uk

According to ONS data, “Rising food prices made the biggest upward contribution to the change in both CPIH and CPI annual inflation rates between August and September 2022.” The BBC reported that the Ukraine war led to an increase in grain prices, and also shared that dairy products have increased in cost by over 30% in one year.

But what do relentless price increases mean for the UK Bitcoin (BTC) and the wider cryptocurrency community? In recent months, trading volumes for the British pound have skyrocketed on the exchanges, with the pound almost hitting parity with the dollar before the Bank of England got back to the business of printing money.

Jordan Walker, CEO of the UK Bitcoin Collective told Cointelegraph:

“Given the current guidelines in place by the BoE [Bank of England] and our government, double digit inflation is quite obvious. I feel like it’s a wake-up call for a lot of people in the UK to start learning about why this is happening to our money.”

Walker explained that hosting the UK Bitcoin Conference should help educate people about the “why” and offer a solution that we believe is Bitcoin.

James Dewar, founder of UK-based Bridge2Bitcoin told Cointelegraph, “There are two components to inflation. One is the supply/demand mismatch caused by disruptions like Covid, reactions to Covid and war. All we usually hear about are these, as politicians claims that these are events “outside” of our control.” Dewar continued, shedding light on the underbelly of inflation:

“What we don’t hear much about is that the other component of inflation is monetary and that since 2008 governments have encouraged central banks both directly to buy their debt (money printing) and indirectly to encourage them to get banks to increase lending (money printing ).”

His colleague Simon at an NGO that seeks to help local businesses in the UK reduce payment processing costs by accepting Bitcoin told Cointelegraph: “Everyone on this planet has unfortunately been born into a period of government controlled money and this fiat system is now in its death throes.”

“Massive money printing and Covid lockdown has hastened its demise. Fortunately, Bitcoin emerged as a solution just when humanity needed it. Bitcoin is money for the people, by the people and cannot be controlled by the state.”

Bridge2Bitcoin recently hit the streets of the UK to increase the use of Bitcoin merchants – to mixed results. In short, Bitcoin adoption is growing in the UK, but it is a slow and challenging journey.

Related: UK Law Commission to review international crypto laws to consider legal reforms

Finally, British crypto-influencer Laiyah Heilpern, a staunch Bitcoin advocate in the face of CBDCs, took to Twitter to express her feelings on the increase:

Paul Dales, chief economist at Capital Economics, commented to the Financial Times that the UK needs to get used to rising prices. Dales explained that the rate of inflation would remain in double digits well into the new year.