The UK government will introduce new regulations for stablecoins and crypto staking services within the next six months, according to Economic Secretary to the Treasury Bim Afolami.
He was speaking at a Coinbase-hosted industry event in London on Monday, adding that the government is “pushing very hard” to get legislation on the books.
The Treasury made a commitment in October to clarify regulations in the crypto domain by 2024. Since then it’s had a number of consultations on fiat-backed stablecoins and the enactment of the Financial Services and Markets Act.
Market experts have been predicting that fiat-backed stablecoins will fall under existing payment laws, enhancing the financial regulator’s oversight on asset-backed digital tokens.
Coinbase itself has always been heavily involved in the governance of the USDC stablecoin. Last summer, the San Francisco-based crypto exchange acquired a stake in Circle. As a result, Centre, the consortium that used to govern USDC, was dissolved. Circle also issues EUROC, a 1:1 Euro-backed stablecoin that it launched in 2022.
The UK…
