England | Crypto

UK crypto and payments groups urged the Bank of England to drop plans to cap individual stablecoin holdings, claiming the move would be costly and hard to enforce. United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency industry advocacy groups called on the Bank of England not to proceed with plans to limit individual stablecoin holdings. In a November 2023 discussion paper, the bank floated setting individual caps on digital pounds between 10,000 British pounds ($13,558) and 20,000 pounds and asked for feedback on a possible lower limit of 5,000 pounds. According to a Monday Financial Times report, industry groups criticized the plan, saying it would be difficult and expensive to implement and could leave the UK lagging behind other jurisdictions. Read more

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey joins a growing list of European officials concerned with the rise of stablecoins. Bank of England (BOE) governor Andrew Bailey recently warned against banks issuing stablecoins, saying that the Bank of England should focus on tokenizing deposits instead. Stablecoins introduce systemic risks to banking institutions that could destabilize the entire financial system, causing sovereign governments to lose control over their currencies, the BOE official told The Sunday Times in an interview.  He also added that the United Kingdom’s central bank should not adopt a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or otherwise seek to launch a centrally-managed digital fiat token. Read more