Two words - British banks! Researches receiving grants in BTC are going to encounter problems with it. They're going to need to spend GBP at some point, and they'll need to explain to their bank where the money came from.

The government has been fairly positive about crypto (opportunity for British businesses, enterprise, innovation - the usual reasons). Our banks... not so much. There used to be GBP exchanges (Britcoin, then Intersango, maybe a few others). No more. When I buy BTC via Localbitcoin I usually have to use something like "ebay purchase" as the reference for the seller's bank. I'm not convinced recipients of government grants are going to be comfortable doing that... even if they are, their auditors won't be.

(Behind the scenes British banks are interested in the blockchain. They just don't want us using that nasty magic internet money associated with the blockchain, however).