He moved the company out of the UK to convert cryptocurrency income into salaries.

Written by: Cessiah Lopez, Head of Growth and Policy at Superteam UK

Translated by: Chopper, Foresight News

I asked Praneet Sinha why he left the UK, and he said it all came down to operational and financial efficiency. He founded the cryptocurrency startup Moongate in London in 2022. The company charged fees in cryptocurrency, which meant converting that income into fiat currency to pay salaries and cover operational expenses.

“From a regulatory and business perspective, RAK DAO (Ras Al Khaimah Digital Asset Oasis, Ras Al Khaimah is one of the seven emirates of the UAE) makes more sense for us,” he told me. “It provides a more friendly crypto environment and tax advantages, especially regarding converting cryptocurrency income into fiat to cover operational expenses.”

This is why he moved the company from the UK to the UAE. RAK DAO is a free zone located in Ras Al Khaimah aimed at digital asset businesses. He is now based in Abu Dhabi, having moved there in August 2024. The UK entity, Moongate Labs Ltd, was dissolved in July 2025.

Today, national borders limit people’s ambitions less than ever before, with the internet capital markets allowing a founder to start a business almost anywhere. Yet people are still crossing borders.

UK Net Loss of 507,000 People Since 2021

According to data from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), there has been a net loss of 507,000 British citizens from 2021 to 2025. This number represents the cumulative annual net loss over the five years, with a one-year loss of 136,000 people in 2025 alone.

The starting point for these statistics is significant. In November 2025, the ONS changed the method of counting British citizens, replacing a previous approach that consistently underestimated the number of people leaving the UK. The revised data only goes back to 2021.

These figures encompass British citizens across various industries and cannot tell us how many are cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, whether their companies left with them, and how much tax revenue the UK has lost.

We can estimate the scale of this outflow, but can we clarify the reasons behind it?

The ONS and the University of Oxford Migration Observatory both acknowledge this challenge. The ONS admits it cannot conduct surveys overseas or access administrative data about its population held by foreign governments. The University of Oxford Migration Observatory stated, “Our knowledge about which British citizens leave the UK and why is relatively limited.”

The lack of concrete data also explains why people do not feel a sense of urgency about this issue. No government has classified this outflow as a national emergency, not even using the term “crisis.”

Entrepreneurs have been asked about this issue before. A report from Tech Nation in 2025 surveyed why they considered relocating their headquarters out of the UK. At Superteam UK, we increasingly hear from outstanding founders wanting to go to Dubai, Singapore, New York, and San Francisco. We wanted to hear from those cryptocurrency entrepreneurs who have already left, so I began to ask them directly.

The Reasons for Leaving Surface One by One

We cannot be satisfied with a scenario where founders are born in the UK, educated here, or register their companies here, only to build their unicorns elsewhere. Arun Krishnakumar provided another reason.

Krishnakumar lived in the UK for nearly 21 years. He studied at the London School of Economics and Oxford, worked at Barclays and PwC, and praised London for “having great schools that produce talented people.” However, when he chose to pursue entrepreneurship, he was constantly told, “If you do this in Silicon Valley, you’ll be much better off.” He mentioned the capital, culture, and regulation in the US and plans to move there.

Capital is also moving in the same direction. In January 2025, a16z contracted its presence in the UK and refocused on the US – having set up its first overseas office in London less than two years prior.

Such stories often surface one by one. People’s reasons for leaving the UK mostly remain anecdotal and self-reported, perhaps in the form of a LinkedIn post or a tweet on X.

The “Talent Drain Wall” project I oversee at Superteam UK attempts to gather them in one place. From July 16 to October 21, 2026, it received 576 submissions. Among them, 61% wanted to stay in the UK, 32% planned to leave, and 7% had already left. About 157 respondents were founders and C-level executives, with 63 identifying as “founders,” making this the most common identity on the wall. Almost half were based in London. All responses were voluntarily submitted, so this wall reflects the voices of those willing to share their reasons with us.

Among the 226 people “preparing to leave or who have already left,” the most common reasons were quality of life (25.2%), tax environment (24.3%), job opportunities (20.4%), and capital (12.4%). Taxes and capital combined accounted for about 36.7%, exceeding the proportion concerned with quality of life alone.

Among the 350 people “staying,” nearly half (48.9%) mentioned family and interpersonal relationships, followed by career and opportunities (20.3%) and quality of life (12%).

A Question Pointing to Talent Reflux

We believe that through network effects, if enough people share their primary reasons for leaving the UK, we can more clearly identify what solid policy recommendations to propose to the government, rather than guessing.

Our goal is to uncover the reasons behind the talent drain and then minimize or eliminate these barriers. We hope this can provide a compelling reason for people to stay in the UK.

The UK has spent many years counting how many people it has lost. It is now time to ask them why they left. We ask this question because we want to know what could persuade them to stay. So I posed this question to Sinha: If the UK could have provided the same conditions as RAK DAO, would he have kept Moongate in London?

He replied, “Yes, setting up a company in another country is a hassle.”