<\/p>\n
At the height of summer, when most policymaking grinds to a halt, the U.K. took a major step forward in its goal of becoming a crypto hub when King Charles III granted<\/a> the Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB) the Royal Assent, formally making the bill an act of law.<\/p>\n Tucked within this comprehensive act \u2014 which gives regulators more powers over the financial services industry \u2014 are provisions for digital assets. The act enables the country\u2019s treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and its central bank to treat crypto as a regulated activity<\/a>,\u00a0 meaning secondary legislation can now be introduced to regulate the sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other provisions include bringing stablecoins<\/a> within the scope of existing payment rules and enabling<\/a> the supervision of crypto promotions.<\/p>\n This comes as the U.K. tries to establish itself as a crypto hub after facing various stops and starts. In recent years, digital asset firms have struggled<\/a> to register with the FCA, while the U.K. government halted<\/a> its Royal Mint non-fungible token (NFT) plans in March. Some of the country\u2019s biggest digital asset conferences have also now dropped<\/a> capital city London as a location for their events.<\/p>\n Now with crypto\u2019s inclusion within FSMB, the U.K. is seen as taking a measured approach to the industry. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) commended the government on seeing \u201cthe promise of Web3\u201d as it set up<\/a> its first international outpost in the country. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he\u2019s determined<\/a> to turn \u201cthe U.K. into the world\u2019s Web3 center.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The positive momentum has helped revitalize a deflated crypto industry, which has been grappling with the after effects of the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and its impact on regulatory uncertainty, particularly in the U.S. But while the U.K. is making all the right noises,\u00a0 policymakers, lobby firms and industry figures are quick to note that the country is only at the start of its regulatory journey with its biggest challenges yet to come.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of work that needs to be done,\u201d said Ijeoma Okoli, co-founder of crypto assets think tank Digital Economy Initiative. \u201cThis is just essentially the base on which to build but the details are still in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.K. isn\u2019t alone in its regulatory journey. Many countries are racing to implement clear guidance for the industry. Some are also vying to become crypto hubs, including Hong Kong<\/a>, Singapore<\/a> and Dubai<\/a>.<\/p>\n The European Union leads the pack with the passage of Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (MiCA) into law. It\u2019s a comprehensive framework for regulating the crypto sector that aims to replace the divergent approaches of member states. While the legislation was published<\/a> in the Official Journal of the European Union this summer, many of its provisions won\u2019t take effect until late next year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.K. acknowledges that there\u2019s an opportunity now to be a considered second mover and learn from some of the early first movers,\u201d said Teana Baker-Taylor, head of regulatory strategy for EMEA at stablecoin provider Circle and non-executive director at lobby firm Crypto U.K.<\/p>\n The U.K. was once in a first mover position when Sunak served as chief finance minister to the former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In April 2022, Sunak set out<\/a> proposals to make the U.K. a crypto-friendly tech hub including plans to launch an NFT collection with the Royal Mint.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those plans were disrupted when Johnson stepped down<\/a> as prime minister following a wave of government resignations including from Sunak<\/a>. Liz Truss was appointed as the new prime minister, but was replaced<\/a> by Sunak 49 days later.<\/p>\n Sunak\u2019s appointment as prime minister meant a crypto hub was back on the agenda with Andrew Griffith, the economic secretary to the treasury and a known advocate<\/a> for blockchain technology, steering much of the conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The delay might have worked in the U.K.\u2019s favor, allowing the country to create a competitive framework that\u2019s also in harmony with other jurisdictions, Baker-Taylor said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The U.K. and the EU have taken divergent approaches, with the U.K. integrating crypto into existing frameworks and the EU designing a standalone piece of regulation. However, both frameworks align, with similar timings helping to close any arbitrage gaps between the regimes, Baker-Taylor added.<\/p>\n Top of the agenda for secondary regulation is private stablecoins. With consultations on systemic stablecoins coming out<\/a> over the summer, Baker-Taylor expects a push toward rulemaking following the government\u2019s recess.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe government has indicated that they would like to see stablecoins regulation enacted within the next 12 months,\u201d Baker-Taylor said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Bank of England continues its preparatory work<\/a> on the digital pound, the country\u2019s central bank digital currency (CBDC). It\u2019s in the design phase, which looks at the technology and policy requirements over the next few years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to see a lot of work done there and a certain amount of tussling between the pros and cons of each of those types of stablecoins,\u201d said Claire Cummings, founder of Cummings Pepperdine, a solicitor specializing in digital assets. \u201cWe might see more of a political divide on that. We haven\u2019t seen so much in the U.K. but it\u2019s playing out in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n As the U.K.\u2019s financial regulator, the FCA focuses on the mandate of consumer protection, but it also has increasing oversight over crypto. From October this year, crypto firms will need to comply <\/a>with the financial promotion regime, which is overseen by the FCA. The regulator is also in the process of designing<\/a> prudential requirements for firms carrying out crypto activities and putting in place <\/a>new rules for crypto promotions.<\/p>\n While policies around the underlying tech remain uncertain, passage of FSMB has given hope to industry advocates that the U.K.\u2019s aim of becoming a global hub for the digital asset industry is now back on track \u2014 particularly as the ongoing regulatory wrangling in the U.S. opens up a spot at the top of the crypto pile.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge opportunity for the U.K.,\u201d said the Digital Economy Initiative\u2019s Okoli. \u201cBut the details matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the height of summer, when most policymaking grinds to a halt, the U.K. took a major step forward in its goal of becoming a crypto hub when King Charles III granted the Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB) the Royal Assent, formally making the bill an act of law. Tucked within this comprehensive act […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[201,248,251,246,257,255,250,252,247,253,249,256,254],"class_list":["post-140006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-others","tag-blockchain","tag-bsc","tag-chainlink","tag-coin","tag-cryptocurrency","tag-gta","tag-looks-rare","tag-oracle","tag-polygon","tag-quickswap","tag-safe-moon","tag-wallet","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140008,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140006\/revisions\/140008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Building the UK\u2019s crypto foundations<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Top of the UK\u2019s crypto agenda<\/strong><\/h2>\n