Following the keynote speech of Tulip Siddiq MP (Economic Secretary to the Treasury) at the Tokenisation Summit in London on 21 November 2024, the FCA published a crypto roadmap on the proposed policy publications on crytoassets in the UK.
The roadmap sets out a timeline for the publication of discussion papers, consultation papers and policy statements relating to the regulation of stablecoins and cryptoassets over the course of 2024 and 2025. The FCA’s aim is to publish policy statements and final rules by 2026 with the regulatory regime going live shortly after that.
It is important to note that the roadmap is not exhaustive and is subject to parliamentary time and further steers from government.
At the moment, the regulatory perimeter for cryptoassets is limited in the UK: only security tokens and e-money token are regulated. For UK businesses dealing in unregulated cryptoassets (such as utility tokens and exchange tokens), they must register with the FCA and comply with the anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing regime. There are also rules restricting financial promotion of cryptoassets in the UK with some exemptions.
Though not set in stone, the crypto roadmap provides a useful indicator of how regulation of cryptoassets will be shaped over the next two years. Those in the industry can brace themselves and their clients for the change ahead.
With the Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill introduced in the House of Lords in September (which we also wrote about), it appears that the current government is quite keen on picking up where the previous one left off (following on from the Treasury’s proposal for financial services regulation of cryptoassets in October 2023). With a single timetable for the regulation of both stablecoins and cryptoassets, it looks like the UK is full steam ahead with this forthcoming regulatory regime.