The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has chosen Revolut, Monee Financial Technologies, ReStabilise and VVTX to test the issuance of stablecoins in its Regulatory Sandbox as regulators move towards a comprehensive rulebook.
The FCA said the group will test stablecoin products in real-world conditions, with safeguards in place. The regulator plans to focus on issuance and review of use cases including payments, wholesale settlement and cryptocurrency trading. Testing begins in the first quarter of 2026, and the FCA said the results will be incorporated into the final stablecoin rules later in 2026.
“We support UK stablecoin issuers to ensure they can be trusted for payments, settlements and transactions,” said Matthew Long, head of payments and digital assets at the FCA. “It will benefit consumers and financial transactions and help deliver the FCA’s strategy and the Government’s National Payments Vision.”
The industry goes backwards
However, industry leaders have rejected limits on stablecoins from the Bank of England (BoE), saying they limit innovation and prevent the UK from becoming the global hub it aims to be.
The Bank of England published a paper on November 10, 2025, announcing caps for stablecoins of between £5,000 and £20,000 for individuals and £1 million to £10 million for companies. Armstrong asked UK users to sign a petition to Parliament calling for these limits to be reconsidered. The petition has 81,909 of the 100,000 required signatures.
“UK stablecoin rules are being finalized and risk preventing the UK from being globally competitive in the digital economy,” Brian Armstrong, CEO and co-founder of Coinbase, wrote in X on Tuesday. He cited a Bank of England proposal to limit stablecoin holdings.
The government has repeatedly committed to positioning London as a hub for global digital asset activity. However, comprehensive legislation governing stablecoins and broader crypto activity is expected to be passed by parliament later this year and will not come into force until 2027.
The regulatory timeline contradicts the UK’s goal of remaining globally competitive within the industry, Andrew MacKenzie, CEO of sterling stablecoin developer Agant, told CoinDesk in a recent interview at Consensus Hong Kong. He said the introduction of rules is not moving fast enough to support the aspirations of the global crypto hub.
“The UK has a long history as a financial centre,” Armstrong said. “To maintain it it is important to embrace and encourage innovation, especially when other countries are moving quickly here.”
