Bank of England Softens Stablecoin Rules With £40 Billion Issuer Cap
The Bank of England has softened its systemic sterling stablecoin framework by dropping proposed individual holding limits and replacing them with a temporary £40 billion issuance cap per issuer. It also revised reserve rules, allowing up to 70% of backing assets to be held in short-term government debt, with the rest kept as non-interest-bearing deposits at the central bank. The shift addresses a major industry concern that wallet-level limits would make sterling stablecoins impractical for everyday use and adoption at scale. An issuer-level cap is still restrictive, but it provides a clearer basis for banks, payment firms and crypto companies to plan around. The changes suggest the UK is trying to build a more workable regime for digital payments and tokenised settlement, though final rules are still pending.
