Guernsey's first crypto stamp release shelved

Thursday, 26 September 2024 08:20

The Golden Guernsey Goat virtual issue falls foul of the island's 2022 finance law.

Guernsey Post planned to float the stamps in late July but then said the release was postponed.

It would have been the first British Isle to sell stamp NFTs, or non fungible tokens. It said at the time that it wanted to 'create a link between the physical world of collecting stamps, and the digital, crypto universe.'

The idea was that collectors would buy the unique digital assets to either collect or trade them online. Scanning a QR code would enable the buyer to see their digital asset, which would be stored in a blockchain.

But Guernsey Post CEO Boley Smilie says despite a lot of effort, the company has not met the requirements of the Lending, Credit and Finance (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2022:

“Our proposed crypto stamps have been considered to be a virtual asset by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission and that means they would be unlikely to licence Guernsey Post for the sale of this type of product.

Unfortunately, this opinion was not consistent with the legal advice that we received on the matter, but we have chosen to launch the Guernsey Goat Stamps in a different way.”

The designs, called Billy and Nanny, will instead be released on a miniature sheet alongside an unspecified limited edition product.