The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has chosen 4 companies,
Monee Financial Technologies, ReStabilise, Revolut and VVTX, to
test how their stablecoin services work with proposed regulation
in a safe environment.
The Regulatory Sandbox programme allows firms to trial
stablecoin products in real world conditions
with appropriate safeguards. It will help the
FCA assess its proposed policy in a live environment
and ensure future rules are clear, effective and support
responsible innovation.
The FCA's testing will primarily focus on
stablecoin issuance. The four selected firms'
proposals represent a range of stablecoin
use cases, including
payments, wholesale settlement and crypto trading.
Each firm will receive feedback from FCA specialists while
helping to shape the UK's regulatory approach.
Matthew Long, director of payments and digital assets at the FCA
said: “We are supporting UK stablecoin issuers to ensure they can
be trusted for payments, settlement and trading. It will benefit
consumers and financial transactions and help to deliver the
FCA's strategy and the Government's National Payments Vision.”
The testing is part of the FCA's broader work to enable
innovation across UK financial services and complements other
innovation initiatives such as the Digital Securities
Sandbox (DSS).
Testing begins in early 2026 and the findings will help shape the
UK's final stablecoin rules later in 2026.
Notes to editors:
- The FCA received 20 applications from firms
wishing to test stablecoins in its Regulatory
Sandbox.
- The FCA has previously set out the timeline for crypto
regulation in its crypto roadmap.
- The FCA has consulted on key topics such as
stablecoin issuance and cryptoasset custody (CP25/14), prudential rules
(CP25/15 and CP25/42), the application
of the FCA Handbook (CP25/25 and CP26/4), conduct of
business and high-level standards (CP25/40) and admissions
and disclosures and market abuse (CP25/41).
- The consultations on the future regulatory regime for
cryptoassets are substantively complete, and the FCA will publish
its Policy Statements this summer.
- Find out more about existing rules firms
must comply with.
- All firms will need to be authorised under the new
regime once the new regime goes live in October
2027. The application gateway for firms who want to be
authorised to carry out crypto activities in the UK opens in
September 2026 and now is the time to start getting
ready.
- The FCA is hosting
authorisation-focussed webinars to help prospective
applicants
understand its expectations. The first one
is available to watch on
demand and the next one will be on 18 March,
focusing on the FCA's anti-money laundering
rules.
- The Prudential Regulation Authority issued a Dear CEO letter on
innovations in the use by deposit-takers of deposits, e-money
and regulated stablecoins.
- The FCA enables a fair and thriving financial services market
for the good of consumers and the economy. Find out
more about the
FCA.
