UK wholesale digital markets champion sets out tokenization plan projecting £33bn a year by 2035
HM Treasury published the first report of its Wholesale Digital Markets Champion, Chris Woolard, on 13 July 2026.
Regulator
HM Treasury
The United Kingdom's economic and finance ministry, which decides which activities sit inside the regulatory perimeter and whose Cryptoassets Regulations of February 2026 brought issuing qualifying stablecoins and safeguarding cryptoassets within FCA authorisation.
The profile
The United Kingdom's economic and finance ministry, responsible for public spending, the tax system and financial services policy, including which activities sit inside the regulatory perimeter that the FCA and the Bank of England then supervise. It made the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026 in February 2026, bringing dealing in qualifying cryptoassets as principal and as agent, arranging such deals, issuing qualifying stablecoins and safeguarding cryptoassets within the scope of FCA authorisation. A draft amending statutory instrument, consulted on until 22 May 2026, would take UK-issued qualifying stablecoins out of the dealing perimeter for an interim period pending wider payment services reform, while leaving safeguarding and stablecoin lending regulated, a sequencing choice that determines whether a sterling token is treated as an investment or as a means of payment.
Frameworks and functions
- Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026
- Statutory instrument creating the UK regulated activities for cryptoasset dealing, arranging, stablecoin issuance and safeguarding.
- Cryptoasset perimeter amendments (draft)
- Draft instrument removing UK-issued qualifying stablecoins from the dealing perimeter during an interim period before payments reform.
Coverage
Developments in which HM Treasury is a named party, newest first.
On the record
UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 receives Royal Assent
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.
HM Treasury consults on bringing payment stablecoins into UK regulation
HM Treasury published a consultation and call for evidence on the UK regulatory approach to cryptoassets and stablecoins, open until 21 March 2021, confirming the government's intention to legislate to bring certain stablecoins used as a means of payment inside the regulatory perimeter. The government published its response on 4 April 2022.