Matt Hancock paid £10,000 to give cryptocurrency speech

Former minister picks up hefty fee just as sector faces huge losses

Mr Hancock also was paid a reported £400,000 fee for appearing on ‘I’m A Celebrity’ (James Gourley/ITV/Shutterstock)

Former health secretary Matt Hancock was paid £10,000 for appearing at a financial technology conference at which he discussed how the government should support cryptocurrencies.

Mr Hancock, who was stripped of the Tory whip for taking part in I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, has been a vocal advocate of “fintech” in the UK, particularly digital currencies that use secure communications for transactions.

But the cryptocurrency sector is in crisis. Billions of dollars in value have been wiped from the market as FTX collapsed and Bitcoin – the world’s third biggest exchange by trading volume – plummeted.