Minister: Britain will focus on regulating stablecoins, not Bitcoin.

Britain will focus primarily on regulating stablecoins rather than the broader cryptocurrency market, the country’s Financial Services Minister said. Reuters reports.

John Glen cited the threat of competition if a large private player begins to dominate the burgeoning digital payments space.

“Some firms have the ability to rapidly achieve dominance and push out other players due to their ability to scale and plug into existing online services,” Glen said at the City & Financial conference.

According to him, stablecoins have become the largest component of the cryptocurrency market by trading volume. While no global player has emerged in the sector yet, the situation could change quickly, the minister added.

Earlier, regulators’ global concern sparked the Libra project, announced by Facebook in 2019. The company confirmed plans to launch a stablecoin renamed to Diem in 2021.

Glen also noted that Britain does not intend to curb innovation when it comes to using the blockchain technology underpinning cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

“We have a unique opportunity to achieve substantial gains in improving the efficiency of financial services and, ultimately, to benefit consumers and the economy as a whole,” he emphasised.

The head of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, also described regulating stablecoins as a priority task for the agency.

The ECB said it intends to obtain the power to block the launch of global ‘stablecoins’ such as Diem.

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