LONDON, June 22 The Bank of England on Monday eased proposed stablecoin rules following widespread concern they risked stifling development of a nascent sterling-backed market, though some in the industry said the changes fell short of enabling an internationally competitive…
ctor. The BoE, which is finalising rules for sterling stablecoins that can be widely used for retail payments, scrapped plans to cap the amount of stablecoins individuals can hold, opting instead to limit total issuance per stablecoin, initially set at £40 billion ($52.8 billion)
It also slightly relaxed a proposal on backing assets to allow issuers of widely used stablecoins to invest up to 70% – versus 60%, previously – of assets backing them in short-term government debt. The remainder must be held in non-interest-bearing central bank deposits. Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to keep a constant value that are often pegged to a fiat currency and backed by traditional assets such as government debt.
They have grown rapidly in recent years, particularly under the crypto-friendly U.S. Trump administration. In the UK, they are currently subject to limited rules focused largely on anti-money laundering and financial promotions, in contrast to the European Union where the comprehensive MiCA regime has been in force since December 2024, although it is now coming under review.