GBP (GBP)

🚨 JUST IN: @TheFCA just set a date for GBP sterling stablecoins. Applications open 30 September. If you've wanted to issue a GBP stablecoin in the UK, you've been waiting on two things: final rules and a timeline. Both landed today. Most of the firms that want to do this were never going to be the Bank of England's problem. The Bank only takes over once a coin gets systemic, north of £40bn. That's Circle and Tether territory, not a UK fintech launching a sterling coin for B2B payments. Everyone below that line sits with the FCA. Which means everyone below that line has been stuck, waiting for the FCA to go first and say "here are the rules, here's when you can apply." Today they did. Gateway opens 30 September, regime goes live October 2027. And the rules they landed on are ones you can build a business on. The capital you have to hold against the coins you've issued dropped from 2% to 1%. On a £500m book that's £5m of your own money tied up instead of £10m. David Geale said the first number was too h

The Bank of England’s plan for systemic stablecoins sets a £20,000 cap per individual and a £10 million cap per firm, effectively choking the market before it can grow. Issuers would be forced to keep 40% of reserves unremunerated at the central bank and only 60% in yielding assets like UK government bonds. That makes pound-backed stablecoins inefficient, uncompetitive and unattractive compared with global alternatives. Even worse, HM Treasury is likely to copy this approach, turning the UK into one of the least appealing places to issue a stablecoin. Instead of boosting the pound’s reach or supporting government gilts, the policy does the opposite. The biggest losers? The UK and its consumers. This is another misguided move by the Bank of England, and again we have to fight for freedom.