Given the rising adoption of cryptocurrencies and the recent crash of Luna, there has been an increased scrutiny of the cryptocurrency world – and the UK is no exception to this. At the same time, the UK acknowledged in a Treasury report in February 2022 that it needed to act quickly to preserve its position as a crypto hub by having a new framework to regulate crypto. This subsequently led to an announcement in April 2022 the UK will be working on a new crypto regulatory package and has plans to regulate stablecoins.
Recently, the Financial Conduct Authority ran a two-day CryptoSprint event to explore how the evolving world of cryptoassets could be regulated in the UK where participants explored some of the challenges facing the industry, including how the FCA can support and balance innovation with high standards that protect consumers and markets.
However, the FCA made it clear that CryptoSprint was an information-gathering exercise to help inform policy. It remains to be seen what any new regulations will entail – how many of the participants’ proposals will be taken into consideration and will the regulations manage to strike a good balance between minimising financial risks for consumers and allowing crypto companies to operate without overburdening them? We will have to wait for the release of the regulatory package to find out.
{ “The last two days have been hugely positive, with participants collaborating closely on what future policy might look like,” an FCA spokesperson told CoinDesk in a statement. “It was striking that the general view on future regulation for the crypto market matches ours, with consumer protection and market integrity key to providing confidence in this evolving sector.”
