Since the start of 2025, there have been important changes for digital assets in the world economy. Perhaps the most prominent example is the new US administration’s Executive Order, which seeks to position the US as a leader in this space. There is now an open question about how the UK will now position itself, both in terms of domestic market strategy (including HM Treasury’s ‘Forward Plan’ document from the National Payments Vision work) but also within the wider context of digital money being the new geopolitical battleground. 

Recent developments: the wider ecosystem 

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its Crypto Roadmap in Q4 2024. Whilst our members welcomed the regulator bringing direction and momentum to the developing regulatory framework for cryptoassets and stablecoins, we believe this area requires greater collaboration and consistency across the authorities to develop a cross-cutting vision. Alongside other trade associations, we wrote to HM Treasury suggesting they lead on coordinating the regulators, including refreshing the cross-authority roadmap published in November 2023. 

The first publication (of this year) of the FCA’s Roadmap was its Discussion Paper covering the proposed disclosure and market abuse regimes for crypoassets. UK Finance submitted an extensive response to these proposals, emphasising the importance of clarifying where requirements lie across the value chain, the different types of information that may be required for institutional and retail investors, as well as the growing and tricky challenge of market manipulation. The new regimes, including the proposed ‘cross-platform information sharing mechanism’, will encourage a standardised way of sharing information on abuse and manipulation, which is important to setting appropriate guardrails and protections in a market that has sometimes struggled to manage bad actors. 

In wider industry developments, we noted with interest the publication of the Ubyx Whitepaper. The document presents an idea for a new clearing system that facilitates redemption processes of stablecoin via regulated financial channels. The concept highlights the need for the industry to lead on much of this work to understand how a well-functioning stablecoin market could integrate with the existing financial ecosystem. Other notable developments include the launch of bank-issued stablecoins by two US banks in March, as well as further revisions to the US stablecoin Acts.

Recent developments: UK Finance 

Building the UK’s digital assets sector requires extensive collaboration from across the ecosystem. That’s why UK Finance and its members have been engaging with government and regulatory officials, leading academic institutions, other trade bodies, and the broader FinTech sector. 

In March, UK Finance co-hosted a cross-industry roundtable on the UK’s forthcoming direction for stablecoin regulation and organised Deep Dive sessions on wholesale CBDC (wCBDC). We’ve also been engaging with senior officials at HM Treasury, the Bank of England (BoE) and FCA on current developments across cryptoassets, stablecoins and the Digital Pound. The Digital Innovation Summit 2025, our flagship event on 24 June, will feature interactive breakout sessions on new forms of digital assets and money with leaders across the sector. 

As the UK progresses much of the work outlined in this blog, it seems to be increasingly clear that all of these developments should be consolidated into one central strategy for digital assets (owned by HM Treasury, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), DSIT and HMRC). This strategy should also reference wider developments in payments like the future review of The Payment Services Regulations 2017 and Electronic Money Regulations 2011 and include changes to the safeguarding regime for payments and e-money firms. This will ‘join the dots’ of an increasingly complex policy and regulatory landscape, helping firms make sense of it all. 

With much on the horizon, we look forward to working closely with our members to prepare our response to the forthcoming stablecoin consultation papers from the FCA and BoE, as well as the long-awaited Statutory Instruments (SIs). These consultations will focus on where the requirements sit differently across both regimes, and how this impacts the lending/interest bearing revenue models for different stablecoin issuers looking to grow and become, at some point, systemically important.  

Despite ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, a shifting investment landscape, and open questions about the future role of stablecoins, we remain committed to working closely with our members to ensure the UK’s emerging digital assets ecosystem remains as resilient and safe as possible for merchants, consumers, and the wider financial system, while continuing to support innovation and competition.