30s Summary
The UK Treasury will create new regulations for cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and staking services by early next year, according to Treasury Officer Tulip Siddiq. The UK aims to become a leading crypto hub but is hindered by its complex regulatory environment, especially with looming crypto regulations in the EU and the pro-crypto stance of the Trump administration in the US. The current Labour government’s only move towards crypto regulation so far has been a bill to classify NFTs, crypto, and carbon credits as property.
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UK’s Treasury will have new rules for cryptocurrencies by early next year, according to an announcement at a recent London summit. Plans for the regulations were initially expected to be launched last year, but elections disrupted that timeline. Now, the new Labour government are making good on the promise.
These new crypto laws will not only cover crypto itself, but also stablecoins and staking services, as confirmed by Treasury Officer Tulip Siddiq. Siddiq believes that bringing all these changes in one go simply makes the process simpler. The regulations relating to stablecoins have been in the works since 2023, but the expected launch was never before 2025.
There’s been worry in the crypto world about staking potentially being considered an “investment scheme”, which would result in further restrictions. Siddiq assured that this won’t be the case – the government is keen to remove any such legal doubts.
In the past, the UK had shown aims of becoming a major hub for crypto. However, the country’s regulatory environment has been seen as tricky, often due to the independent Financial Conduct Authority. To make matters worse, by the end of this year, the EU is expected to enforce a firm set of crypto regulations, and the USA’s Trump administration is considered pro-crypto. This could make the UK a less appealing choice for the growing crypto industry.
While the previous government had promised fresh crypto regulations in July, they never materialised. The only push towards crypto regulation by the current Labour government has been a bill proposed in September that aimed to legally classify NFTs, crypto, and carbon credits as property.