Britain To Announce Its Crypto Regulatory Intentions Soon

[Coinshots]

British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to announce a new regulatory regime for crypto in the coming weeks, sources tell CNBC. The announcement will focus in particular on stablecoins, digital assets that derive their value from existing currencies like the U.S. dollar.

The U.K. government will soon reveal plans to regulate the cryptocurrency market, focusing on a fast-growing type of token known as stablecoins, according to four industry sources familiar with the matter.

British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to make an announcement in the coming weeks about a new regulatory regime for crypto, preferring to remain anonymous as the information hasn’t yet been made public.

Details of the plans are still being finalized, providing legal clarity for a sector that has so far been mostly lacking in regulation.

According to the sources, Treasury officials have shown a willingness to understand the complexities of the crypto market and so-called stablecoins, digital assets that derive their value from existing currencies like the U.S. dollar.

The department has been in discussions with a number of firms and trade groups. That includes the Winklevoss brothers’ crypto exchange Gemini, one of the sources said. Gemini issues its own stablecoin called the Gemini dollar, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Stablecoins have seen exponential growth in terms of usage over the past few years, in tandem with rising interest in cryptocurrencies more broadly. Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, now has a total circulating supply of more than $80 billion — up from about $4 billion two years ago.

But those tokens have also caused concern for regulators, who worry they may not be fully backed by an equivalent amount of reserves, and are being used for money laundering and other illicit activities.

Meanwhile, regulators are worried about possible exposure of the financial system to bitcoin and other digital currencies, as well as their potential use for evading sanctions imposed on Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.

The Bank of England on Thursday called for policymakers to expand regulatory frameworks to limit the risks posed by crypto to financial stability.

BOE Deputy Governor Sam Woods wrote a letter to several bank CEOs saying there has been “increased interest” from banks and investment firms in “entering various crypto markets.”

The Treasury’s move is being viewed as a response to President Joe Biden’s executive order calling for coordination from different U.S. federal agencies on regulating crypto, the sources said. Several industry insiders have bemoaned the lack of similar action from the U.K.

A number of companies, including Revolut, Blockchain.com and Copper could be forced to wind down their crypto operations in the U.K. this week if they fail to make it onto the Financial Conduct Authority’s cryptoasset register in time for a Mar. 31 deadline.

The FCA said a “high number” of crypto businesses aren’t meeting the required anti-money laundering standards. Just 33 companies have made it onto the register. More than 80% firms assessed by the regulator have either withdrawn their applications or been rejected.

Source: https://www.coinshots.com/news/britain-will-reveal-crypto-regulation-plans-in-coming-weeks

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[DapanasFruit]

In general, this is good news for the cryptocurrency industry but the devil is in the details, so to speak, so let's watch what will be the final outcome of this move to finally come up with a regulatory framework for all parties and stakeholders should be following. I am glad that they are in consultation with the Winklevoss brothers through Gemini which I am assuming really understood the industry so well as the two had has been exposed into it for years doing business here and there. I think there is now a trend for many countries to finally adopt their regulatory stand on cryptocurrency most especially after we heard the same from the USA government.

[Cryptions]

I think this is in general very mad news for cryptos, goverments aim to grab the control back they have a bit lost with new tech. They are going to regulate cryptos to death with the aim to introduce own government digital currencies. That kills privacy, innovation and puts enormous power in the hands of bureaucrats.

[el kaka22]

I agree that there needs to be something done about the stablecoins because right now we are trusting over 150 billion dollars to a few companies and that should not be alright. We need to understand that there is a big problem in the crypto community and that is mainly the stablecoins, which is why there is nothing that could be "risk-less".

As the biggest problem we are facing right now, stablecoins of course terrify the governments as well and they are right to do that as well. This doesn't mean that we need like some "bans" in order to limit them, just figure out a way to make sure that you could audit these companies better to make sure it's safely stored.

[Cryptions]

Regulating stablecoins can cause cryptos crash. If Tether is forced to reveal everything, it wipes out a lot of value not to mention some other stable coins. There's the deep sink hole full of nothing.

[avikz]

It's great that UK is at least moving forward with a standardized framework for cryptos. These kind of legal frameworks always help in growth in general. It will help to open businesses around crypto in UK and possibly encourage its adoption at merchant level. The trading volumes around cryptos will increase if the adoption increases. It's a net positive unless they decide to impose 30% tax like India.

But stablecoin are really one area of concern for the governments. While it enaures the value transfer without much volatility, it also remains anonymous. That's where the government will probably hit. Let's see!

[darewaller]

Lol, they are really dragging this along for a while. I mean what did you expected from a nation that actually agreed to leave the EU and still took like 3 years to do that. They literally had 3 years of time for something they all agreed on, imagine how long it could take them to draw up a legislation regarding crypto. I am assuming by 2030 they will have it all covered . All jokes aside, regulations are nice and all but only if they are done supportively, if they are going to do something that will hurt crypto... well it wouldn't matter a lot because crypto is not getting a huge interest from the UK anyway, that is not one of the leading nations for us.

[Fortify]

British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to announce a new regulatory regime for crypto in the coming weeks, sources tell CNBC. The announcement will focus in particular on stablecoins, digital assets that derive their value from existing currencies like the U.S. dollar.

The U.K. government will soon reveal plans to regulate the cryptocurrency market, focusing on a fast-growing type of token known as stablecoins, according to four industry sources familiar with the matter.

British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to make an announcement in the coming weeks about a new regulatory regime for crypto, preferring to remain anonymous as the information hasn’t yet been made public.

Details of the plans are still being finalized, providing legal clarity for a sector that has so far been mostly lacking in regulation.

According to the sources, Treasury officials have shown a willingness to understand the complexities of the crypto market and so-called stablecoins, digital assets that derive their value from existing currencies like the U.S. dollar.

The department has been in discussions with a number of firms and trade groups. That includes the Winklevoss brothers’ crypto exchange Gemini, one of the sources said. Gemini issues its own stablecoin called the Gemini dollar, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Stablecoins have seen exponential growth in terms of usage over the past few years, in tandem with rising interest in cryptocurrencies more broadly. Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, now has a total circulating supply of more than $80 billion — up from about $4 billion two years ago.

But those tokens have also caused concern for regulators, who worry they may not be fully backed by an equivalent amount of reserves, and are being used for money laundering and other illicit activities.

Meanwhile, regulators are worried about possible exposure of the financial system to bitcoin and other digital currencies, as well as their potential use for evading sanctions imposed on Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.

The Bank of England on Thursday called for policymakers to expand regulatory frameworks to limit the risks posed by crypto to financial stability.

BOE Deputy Governor Sam Woods wrote a letter to several bank CEOs saying there has been “increased interest” from banks and investment firms in “entering various crypto markets.”

The Treasury’s move is being viewed as a response to President Joe Biden’s executive order calling for coordination from different U.S. federal agencies on regulating crypto, the sources said. Several industry insiders have bemoaned the lack of similar action from the U.K.

A number of companies, including Revolut, Blockchain.com and Copper could be forced to wind down their crypto operations in the U.K. this week if they fail to make it onto the Financial Conduct Authority’s cryptoasset register in time for a Mar. 31 deadline.

The FCA said a “high number” of crypto businesses aren’t meeting the required anti-money laundering standards. Just 33 companies have made it onto the register. More than 80% firms assessed by the regulator have either withdrawn their applications or been rejected.

Source: https://www.coinshots.com/news/britain-will-reveal-crypto-regulation-plans-in-coming-weeks

This was somewhat inevitable, if you consider exchanges to be the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank, then at some point they will need a regulator who can try to protect customers who might not be the tech savvy bunch of people we have here. Governments are always looking out for money flows that might be avoiding the taxman's pocket as well, so blaming crypto for potential money laundering will also boost their tax generation receipts. They're now realizing the crypto is here to stay so they definitely want a framework that'll give them a piece of the action and allow them to coordinate with other countries in tracking down these ghost funds.

[Zilon]

The Uk Treasury aren't far from doing what is expected of them. Every centralized exchange is expected to meet up with the Financial Conduct Authority’s cryptoasset register before the deadline to help the track down the stable coin in flow. I think this crypto exchanges too will have a bite of how we feel when our accounts gets frozen due to incomplete KYC. They too should meet up with the cryptoasset register or better still stand to lose their operational rights in the UK

[crzy]

The Uk Treasury aren't far from doing what is expected of them. Every centralized exchange is expected to meet up with the Financial Conduct Authority’s cryptoasset register before the deadline to help the track down the stable coin in flow. I think this crypto exchanges too will have a bite of how we feel when our accounts gets frozen due to incomplete KYC. They too should meet up with the cryptoasset register or better still stand to lose their operational rights in the UK

These centralized system can’t let a decentralized currency to takes over the market, regulations are expected to happen because they are really afraid for the possible scenario. Once the regulations are complete, we can expect that many exchanges will restrict UK on their platform to avoid being regulated but sooner or later we will left with no choice anymore but to comply, this is inevitable.

[CaVO32]

The Uk Treasury aren't far from doing what is expected of them. Every centralized exchange is expected to meet up with the Financial Conduct Authority’s cryptoasset register before the deadline to help the track down the stable coin in flow. I think this crypto exchanges too will have a bite of how we feel when our accounts gets frozen due to incomplete KYC. They too should meet up with the cryptoasset register or better still stand to lose their operational rights in the UK

These centralized system can’t let a decentralized currency to takes over the market, regulations are expected to happen because they are really afraid for the possible scenario. Once the regulations are complete, we can expect that many exchanges will restrict UK on their platform to avoid being regulated but sooner or later we will left with no choice anymore but to comply, this is inevitable.

They are starting with stablecoin backed by fiat, because that's where they can have the full control of its circulation. If nothing else, it is already a good start as later on, when their citizen are already into this stablecoin market, they will discover other existing cryptocurrencies, wherein, they can compare the pros and cons of dealing with stablecoin vs decentralized crypto. But as a start, they need to gain trust from their constituents that dealing with crypto assets is not a scam or fraud.

[Moneyprism]

many countries in the world are starting to regulate cryptocurrencies,, most of them have a reason that they want to protect their citizens, when in fact what is happening is that they don't want to lose control of their finances and want to profit from taxes imposed on crypto ownership from citizens. ... it's a disgusting thing and they're not ashamed

[hugeblack]

British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to announce a new regulatory regime for crypto in the coming weeks, sources tell CNBC. The announcement will focus in particular on stablecoins, digital assets that derive their value from existing currencies like the U.S. dollar.

I have always said that any news of regulation (From EU, USA, and the west) is currently targeting trading operations that are not subject to identity verification and in large quantities, especially to Russia to tighten financial penalties on individuals, companies and financial institutions, and therefore the law will force all central platforms to provide more data to customers and comply with regulatory restrictions.

So I expect something similar to what happened in Europe with some minor differences in how the currencies are tracked, which may be more stringent if given the strength of British sanctions.

[darkangel11]

I think this is in general very mad news for cryptos, goverments aim to grab the control back they have a bit lost with new tech. They are going to regulate cryptos to death with the aim to introduce own government digital currencies. That kills privacy, innovation and puts enormous power in the hands of bureaucrats.

They can't really regulate cryptocurrencies which is why their main focus are crypto instruments like tether because they aren't really "coins" but privately owned bridge currencies. They are very easy to regulate because the government can even ban the company from conducting business in their country if they choose to go to extremes.
Bitcoin on the other hand cannot be touched. The only thing they can do is limit the use of centralized exchanges but cash exchange will always be possible, same as accepting bitcoin as a form of payment. This can end with a fine if you get caught but can't be stopped only reduced.

I feel like countries should focus on getting their taxes instead of trying to block a growing industry.

[LUCKMCFLY]

I think that regulations is a desperate way to accept crypto and that obviously governments will not kneel in front of crypto for obvious reasons, for governments it will never be a good crypto option, for them their fiat currency is better and everything that has to see with your local currency or USD, EUR, among others.
You cannot cover the sun with a finger, it is imperative that all countries have to accept BTC and cryptocurrencies, so the most serious way for them is to introduce them through "regulations" but never in life will it be controlled by governments.

[fiulpro]

Regulations means that they are not keen on banning the thing, let's be honest they are earning loads through gambling and other things which does mean that the government would try and make sure that things goes smoothly for them. They would increase the taxation on cryptocurrencies 100% , have you seen the charges of electricity and gas !? The PM itself said to stop heating up the houses. The things are getting worse and the government is finding ways to somehow get the money in the bank and therefore they are going after the cryptocurrencies ast the moment. They have to make sure that the price of tax is not only reasonable but at the same time it's also affordable. They need to set a cap below which people won't have to pay taxes on bitcoins. Hopefully it would be a positive thing.

[so98nn]

The main concern of illegal usage will always be there whether it is gold, fiat, crypto currency or centralised stable coin. It’s like nothing changes at that point. So all they have to do is just think about how they can introduce mainstream adoption of the crypto currency and not limited to stable coins alone. They should bring up legislation where other coins should be in use along with the stable coin. If they want tax it then tax it after conversion to fiat and getting credited into bank accounts. Because if they came up with the plan to track everything on chain then I’m pretty sure they will end up in wrong side of the judgement in public opinion. Tether had amazing chance, until they came up under juri radar. But definitely worthy with 80 billion dollar economy.