In brief
- Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said that the UK’s new stablecoin rules will be operational “just as quickly as the U.S.”
- The central bank will unveil its proposed regime on Monday, with temporary caps of $26,087 (£20,000) for individuals and $13 million (£10 million) for businesses.
- Industry critics have previously warned that the retail holding limits could prove “cumbersome, costly and potentially unworkable” in practice.
Britain will roll out its stablecoin regulatory framework “just as quickly as the U.S.,” a senior Bank of England official said Wednesday, rebuffing industry concerns that the UK is falling behind in the global race to regulate the assets.
At the SALT conference in London, BoE Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said the bank remains committed to matching the U.S.’s pace, where President Trump signed stablecoin framework the GENIUS Act into law in July, which has triggered momentum for the assets’ adoption.
“Our aim is to make sure that our regime is up and running, just as quickly as the US,” Breeden said, as cited by Bloomberg. “It’s really important that we do this together and it’s a fabulous opportunity.”
Speaking to Decrypt, Paul Howard, senior director at crypto trading firm Wincent, welcomed Breeden’s timeline pledge, saying it’s “great news that the UK will be up and running just as quickly as the U.S., where we have witnessed leadership from the very top.”
Howard noted that Britain’s financial services sector generates over 40% of national GDP, making it “paramount to safeguard UK jobs and economic development,” particularly given the country’s history as a center for foreign currency exchange.
The push for clear stablecoin rules comes as the UK and U.S. advance a joint task force, launched in September, to align crypto rules and ease cross-border capital flows with policy recommendations due by March 2026.
Concerns over limits
The Bank of England plans to unveil its proposed regime on Monday, with rules expected to be operational by the end of next year.
The regulations will include temporary caps of $26,087 (£20,000)for individuals and $13 million (£10 million) for businesses, though exemptions for large crypto exchanges and institutional players are expected, according to the report.
Reports of potential exemptions emerged last month, enabling crypto exchanges and other large entities to exceed the £10 million limit for businesses.
The deputy governor downplayed concerns about the holding caps at the conference, insisting, “it is less of an issue in practice than people might think.”
Breeden justified Britain’s strict regimen by pointing to structural differences in credit markets: “People in the US get their mortgages from Fannie and Freddie, and they’re funded in financial markets,” she said. “People in the UK get their mortgages from commercial banks.”
Industry figures have shared the concerns with the holding caps, with Simon Jennings, Executive Director of the UK Cryptoasset Business Council, previously telling Decrypt the retail cap “remains critically important that these limits are recalibrated,” warning it could prove “cumbersome, costly and potentially unworkable.”
The Bank of England has indicated limits would be lifted once concerns about stablecoins’ impact on bank deposits and mortgage availability ease, with the central bank’s discussion paper saying caps “would be raised, or removed completely, if the Bank believes the risks to financial stability have been mitigated.”
Market sentiment remains cautious, with a majority of users on prediction market Myriad expecting that the total market cap of all stablecoins will fall short of $360 billion before next February, even though it currently sits above $311 billion, per CoinGecko data. (Disclosure: Myriad is owned by Decrypt’s parent company, Dastan.)
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
