News, data and analysis on tokenized assets, market design and digital economic systems.
Conduct regulator for the United Kingdom, independent of government and funded by fees levied on the firms it supervises, whose crypto remit runs only to financial promotions and anti-money-laundering supervision until the cryptoasset authorisation rules take effect on 25 October 2027.
The United Kingdom's conduct regulator, created by the Financial Services Act 2012 and operational from 1 April 2013 in place of the Financial Services Authority, independent of government and funded by fees levied on the firms it supervises. On 30 June 2026 it published final rules for the cryptoasset authorisation regime, covering trading platforms, intermediaries, custodians, stablecoin issuers and staking arrangements, with pre-application meetings from July 2026, an application window from 30 September 2026 to 28 February 2027 and the rules taking effect on 25 October 2027. Until then its crypto remit runs only to financial promotions and anti-money-laundering supervision, which is why a sterling stablecoin issued today faces no FCA capital or backing-asset requirement, and why the Bank of England's systemic regime and the FCA's conduct regime are being built on separate clocks.
Developments in which Financial Conduct Authority is a named party, newest first.
London clears most of the world's spot gold, and the regulator wants to know whether tokenizing it would help.
The House of Lords agreed a new clause by 194 to 138 against the government, requiring the Treasury to prepare, publish and consult on a strategy for cryptoassets, stablecoins, CBDCs and tokenised securities within twelve months of Royal Assent.
More than 50 cryptoassets went into the main Robinhood app for British customers on 10 August, traded through Bitstamp UK Ltd, with no trading, custody or account fee and a 0.10 per cent charge on the currency conversion that rises to 0.30 per cent…
HM Treasury published the first report of its Wholesale Digital Markets Champion, Chris Woolard, on 13 July 2026.
On 22 June 2026 the Bank of England published a policy statement and draft Code of Practice for sterling systemic stablecoin issuers, dropping proposed individual holding limits in favour of a temporary £40bn cap per issuance.
The regulator asked by 23 October whether tokenisation could improve how gold is traded, pledged and held, and whether some gold tokens should sit outside the collective investment scheme and alternative investment fund perimeter. It says a token over an allocated bar is more likely outside it and a fractional interest in a pooled bar inside it.
Peers agreed amendment 88 to the Financial Services and Markets Bill [HL] by 194 to 138 against the government, inserting a new clause requiring the Treasury to prepare, publish and consult on a strategy covering cryptoassets, stablecoins, CBDCs and tokenised securities, and to examine the denial of banking and settlement services to digital asset firms.
Robinhood said on 10 August 2026 that more than 50 cryptoassets were going into its main UK app, traded through Bitstamp UK Ltd, which is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority as a cryptoasset service provider. There is no trading, custody or account fee; a 0.10 per cent fee applies to the currency conversion, rising to 0.30 per cent between Friday and Sunday evenings in New York.
The Bank of England published a policy statement and draft Code of Practice for issuers of systemic sterling stablecoins, setting a temporary guardrail of £40bn per issuance instead of the individual holding limits it had consulted on. Issuers may hold up to 70% of backing assets in short-term UK government debt, with the remaining 30% in deposits at the Bank; responses are due by 22 September 2026 and regulated stablecoins are expected to operate from 2027.
Retail access to crypto exchange traded notes reopened in the United Kingdom, reversing a prohibition in force since January 2021. The Financial Conduct Authority required the notes to be traded on an FCA-approved UK investment exchange and subject to financial promotion rules and the Consumer Duty; holdings are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and the ban on retail access to cryptoasset derivatives remains.
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 became law as 2023 Chapter 29, carrying provisions that bring digital settlement assets within UK payments regulation and create a framework for financial market infrastructure sandboxes. The Act gave HM Treasury the powers on which later secondary legislation for cryptoassets was built.
What issued, what settled, what the supervisors changed, with the numbers behind it and a note on what the numbers do not show. One email, Thursday mornings.
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