On 30 June 2026, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a joint approach explaining how the two authorities — and, where relevant, others — will work together to regulate systemic stablecoin issuers in the UK. The paper sets out how responsibilities will be divided and, critically, how a UK stablecoin issuer may move from FCA supervision to joint regulation once HM Treasury recognises it as systemic. The stated aim is to give firms clarity and predictability as the market develops.
What actually happened
This is not a new rulebook in itself. It is a coordination framework: a statement of how the FCA and the Bank of England intend to share supervisory responsibility for stablecoin issuers whose scale or interconnectedness could matter to the stability of the wider financial system. The document confirms two tiers of oversight — FCA supervision for issuers generally, and a joint regime that engages once an issuer is formally designated systemic by HM Treasury.
What it means in practice
For most issuers and applicants, the immediate touchpoint remains the FCA. The joint approach signals that a stablecoin business does not simply graduate into a single, static regime; instead, the regulatory footprint scales with the firm’s importance. As an issuer grows in size and systemic relevance, the Bank of England enters the picture alongside the FCA. HM Treasury holds the trigger — the systemic designation — that shifts a firm into dual oversight.
The practical takeaway is that governance, compliance and operational resilience should be designed with that possible transition in mind. A firm operating comfortably under FCA supervision today could, on reaching systemic scale, face expectations shaped by a prudential authority focused on financial stability. Building for that trajectory early is far less disruptive than retrofitting it under supervisory pressure.
Who does what
The paper’s core value is allocation of responsibility. Rather than leaving firms to guess how overlapping mandates will be reconciled, the authorities have set out where the FCA leads, where the Bank of England leads, and how they will coordinate. For executives, that reduces the risk of duplicative or conflicting supervisory demands and makes engagement more predictable.
Implications for issuers and applicants
- Plan for two regimes, not one. Treat FCA authorisation as the entry point and systemic designation as a foreseeable milestone, not a remote edge case, if your growth ambitions are material.
- Prioritise resilience and reserve management. Systemic status brings financial-stability considerations to the fore; robust reserve backing, redemption arrangements and operational continuity are the areas most likely to attract scrutiny.
- Map your interconnectedness. Understand how your stablecoin sits within payment flows, exchanges and counterparties — this is the type of exposure that informs a systemic assessment.
- Document your governance. A clear line of sight over decision-making, risk and reporting will support engagement with either or both authorities.
The UK is deliberately charting a domestic path here that differs from the EU’s MiCA framework, so firms operating across borders should not assume equivalence. A stablecoin strategy that works under MiCA may need distinct structuring to align with UK expectations, and vice versa.
Concrete next steps
Read the joint approach in full and benchmark your current or planned operating model against it. If you are pursuing a crypto / VASP license in United Kingdom, factor the two-tier structure into your authorisation strategy from the outset. Applicants should be able to articulate how their controls would hold up if the business were later designated systemic, even if that day is some way off.
Above all, engage early. The authorities have signalled a preference for clarity and predictability; firms that approach supervision proactively — with well-documented resilience, reserves and governance — will be best placed to navigate a move from single to joint oversight without friction.
