Nick brooks
Policy Director CryptoUK
Crypto has grown into a multi-trillion-dollar sector similar in size to the UK economy. This is a remarkable success for an asset class originating from a whitepaper published during the 2008 financial crisis.
The digital assets industry is reshaping global finance and its infrastructure. Stablecoins now settle more value annually than Visa and Mastercard combined, on a payments rail that didn’t exist fifteen years ago.
The industry’s lack of regulatory clarity has become its main friction point, too often resulting in innovative businesses moving offshore, alongside jobs, tax revenue and technical talent.
This is why CryptoUK has been working with HM Treasury and the FCA to develop a framework that transforms UK regulation from a hurdle into an engine of growth for the UK economy.
FCA authorisation gateway
When the FCA’s authorisation gateway opens in September 2026, regulatory uncertainty will be replaced by a framework enabling deeper integration of the crypto industry with the UK financial sector. For compliant firms, it provides access to the institutional market.
HM Treasury and the FCA have embedded digital assets into existing financial services law: the FCA Handbook, CASS safeguarding, SM&CR, Consumer Duty and the new CRYPTOPRU prudential regime for crypto firms.
The ‘same risk, same outcome’ principle treats crypto firms as participants in financial services, not exceptions, and gives authorised firms the regulatory characteristics that banks, auditors and corporate treasurers already understand how to underwrite.
When the FCA’s authorisation gateway opens in September 2026, regulatory uncertainty will be replaced by a framework enabling deeper integration of the crypto industry with the UK financial sector
Addressing concerns
The standard objection runs that compliance costs make UK operations uneconomic and firms will relocate to lighter jurisdictions. While we recognise these concerns, the argument misreads where the value lies.
The growth opportunity is in institutional adoption, and institutional capital flows through jurisdictions that possess a credible regulatory perimeter. Tokenised mortgages, equities, payroll and even gilts become viable when the settlement layer sits inside the compliance of the financial system. Sterling stablecoins become a payment infrastructure only when backed by transparent reserves under FCA supervision. The firms that complete authorisation ahead of the September gateway, and the full cutover in October 2027, will be the counterparties through which institutional capital enters the UK market.
