UK regulator signals final crypto rules by 'early summer'
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The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) executive director of payments and digital finance, David Geale, said in a speech that the agency will set its final rules for digital assets in early summer, adding that the FCA is “open for business, and we want crypto firms to succeed.”
Speaking to the Payments Regulation and Innovation Summit 2026, Geale, who—on top of his FCA position—is also managing director of the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), told attendees that “work is well underway on building a proportionate and competitive regime.”
Without naming a specific date, he added that the FCA would “set out our final rules and framework in early summer.”
The FCA has been consulting on its proposed approach to digital asset regulation since the U.K. Treasury published a draft Statutory Instrument (SI) last April aimed at definitively bringing certain digital currency activities, including issuing qualifying stablecoins, safeguarding qualifying digital currency, operating a digital currency trading platform, intermediation, and staking, under the regulator’s remit.
The legislation is yet to be officially passed into law, but when it eventually does the FCA wants to be ready to implement its new framework.
With this in mind, Geale also reminded the Summit audience that the FCA published its final consultation paper for crypto-asset regulation a couple of weeks ago, focusing on how the FCA’s “Consumer Duty” rules will apply to digital currency firms, as well as the regulator’s proposed approach to international firms.
He encouraged all interested parties to share their views on the proposals by the March 12 deadline.
“We want innovators, regulators, government and industry all involved in shaping the future of crypto in the UK,” said Geale.
Beyond the impending digital asset framework, Geale spoke generally on the FCA’s and PSR’s role in delivering the U.K.’s “National Payments Vision,” which included a section devoted to “harnessing new technologies.”
One such new technology is stablecoins, on which the FCA and PSR executive pointed to the U.K.’s regulatory sandbox, which he said aims to “support issuers testing U.K.-issued stablecoins.”
UK stablecoin support
In December 2025, the FCA set ambitious new growth targets for 2026, including finalizing digital asset rules and advancing U.K.-issued sterling stablecoins, to provide “faster and more convenient” payments.
According to an FCA press release at the time, the regulator said it would open up its regulatory sandbox, a scheme for the safe testing of products and the support of innovative policy development, to firms wanting to experiment with the issuance of stablecoins.
Last week, Geale reiterated the regulator’s support for the stablecoin space.
“Done well, stablecoins have huge potential to unlock faster, cheaper and more reliable payments,” he said, adding that “it’s an exciting area.”
To help boost efforts to support this exciting area, Geale said the FCA would be running a “stablecoin sprint” next month to “gather views and inform our regulatory approach.”
Watch: What’s ahead for crypto regulation? Highlights from Blockchain Futurist Conference 2025
