Britain approves Financial Services and Markets Bill

The Financial Services and Markets Bill, which touches on regulation of the UK’s cryptocurrency sector, has received final approval.

The approval was preceded by the passage of a comprehensive document that updated oversight of the financial industry after Brexit.

The Financial Services and Markets Bill gives regulatory authorities powers to develop a framework for the digital assets sector. It aligns with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s aim to turn Britain into global crypto hub.

The document allows the creation of regulatory “sandboxes” to experiment with blockchain use cases on financial markets. It also assigns to stablecoins the status of a payment instrument.

After parliamentary scrutiny, the bill was amended to treat all cryptocurrencies as a regulated activity and to give authorities powers to oversee their advertising.

‘The passage gives us control over the regulatory framework for financial services — the law supports companies and consumers, and also stimulates economic growth. The removal of old EU prescriptions will attract billions in investment’, said the country’s finance minister, Andrew Griffith.

Earlier, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, John Cunliffe proposed regulating digital assets in line with traditional finance. He also noted that decentralized protocols currently do not provide an effective means of risk management.

In December 2022, Cunliffe urged the creation of a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies before the emergence of ‘systemic issues’.