stable coins
By Dan Saada
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What the Exemptions Actually Cover. The draft carves out relief from three regulated activities: dealing as principal, dealing as…
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Custody Relief — A Shift From Earlier Proposals. One of the more meaningful changes from earlier Treasury thinking involves custody.
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Timeline and What's Still Unclear. The amendments covering dealing, arranging, and financial promotion are set to kick in on October…
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HM Treasury dropped a draft regulation on September 15 that rewrites parts of the UK's incoming crypto rulebook.
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The draft carves out relief from three regulated activities: dealing as principal, dealing as agent, and arranging deals. But only for straightforward stablecoin transfers.
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If a recipient has to return the stablecoin at any point, the transaction stays regulated. Full stop.
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There's also a separate exemption tucked in for title-transfer collateral and repo arrangements involving qualifying stablecoins.
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And what counts as a "UK qualifying stablecoin"? The draft makes clear it's not just any token that tracks sterling. Tokens issued overseas don't automatically qualify.
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One of the more meaningful changes from earlier Treasury thinking involves custody. Under the previous proposal, firms holding a qualifying stablecoin even briefly — say, during…
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The updated draft backs off that position. Temporary holding of a UK qualifying stablecoin specifically tied to executing a payment now gets custody relief.
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More context: FCAs New Guidance Reveals Complexities Ahead of UK Crypto Authorization Window
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Longer-term custody, though? Still regulated. The draft doesn't blur that line.
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Financial promotion rules mostly follow the same logic. The exclusions for transfer, exchange, collateral, and repo activities generally carry over to marketing.
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And that approval isn't guaranteed to be quick or smooth. The draft still needs to clear Parliament, and HM Treasury hasn't finished the broader long-term rules for stablecoin…
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So there's a real gap between where things stand now and what the full regulatory picture looks like by late 2027.
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