The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has selected Revolut, Monee Financial Technologies, ReStabilise and VVTX to test stablecoin issuance in its regulatory sandbox as the regulator moves towards a full rulebook.
The FCA said the team will trial stablecoin products under real-world conditions and put in place appropriate safeguards. The regulator plans to focus on issuance and review use cases, including payments, wholesale settlement and cryptocurrency trading. Testing will begin in the first quarter of 2026, and the FCA said the results will be incorporated into final stablecoin rules later in 2026.
“We are supporting UK stablecoin issuers to ensure they are trustworthy for payments, settlements and transactions,” said Matthew Long, director of payments and digital assets at the FCA. “It will benefit consumers and financial transactions and help deliver on the FCA’s strategy and the government’s national payments vision.”
Industry fights back
However, industry leaders oppose the Bank of England’s (BoE) stablecoin cap, saying it limits innovation and prevents the UK from becoming the global hub it aims to be.
The Bank of England published a paper on November 10, 2025, announcing that the upper limit of personal stablecoins would be 5,000 to 20,000 pounds, and the upper limit of corporate stablecoins would be 1 million to 10 million pounds. Armstrong asked UK users to sign a petition to Parliament calling for the caps to be reconsidered. The petition has received 81,909 signatures out of 100,000.
“The UK’s stablecoin rules are being finalized that could hamper the UK’s global competitiveness in the digital economy,” Coinbase CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong wrote on X on Tuesday, citing the Bank of England’s proposal to limit stablecoin holdings.
The government has repeatedly pledged to position London as the center of global digital asset activity. However, comprehensive legislation governing stablecoins and wider cryptocurrency activity is expected to be approved by parliament later this year and will not come into effect until 2027.
Andrew MacKenzie, CEO of sterling stablecoin developer Agant, said in a recent interview with CoinDesk at Consensus Hong Kong that the regulatory timeline conflicts with the UK’s goal of remaining globally competitive in the industry. He said the rules were not coming fast enough to support the aspirations of a global cryptocurrency hub.
“Britain has a long history as a financial centre,” Armstrong said. “Embracing and encouraging innovation, especially when other countries are developing rapidly in this area, is very important to maintaining this.”
