Stablecoin regulation: it is almost a reality in the UK

When it comes to stablecoin regulation, it is already almost a reality in the United Kingdom. The Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB), was also approved by the House of Lords on Monday, and is about to enter the final stages before it comes into force. 

Stablecoin regulation: in the UK, the FSBM bill passed by the House of Lords.

According to reports, the House of Lords has passed the Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB), the bill that recognizes crypto as a regulated activity and stablecoins as a means of payment. 

In practice, the FSMB passed by the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament, would take stablecoin and crypto regulation to the next step. 

In fact, at the present time, the bill is about to enter the final stages before its official enactment. 

The extensive bill spans more than 340 pages and had been introduced last July so as to give regulators more power over the country’s financial system. 

Since then, several amendments have been introduced such as oversight of cryptocurrency promotions. 

In this regard, back in March 2022, the ASA’s Enforcement Notice issued to more than 50 companies that advertised crypto. Basically, a real guide to the crypto industry was issued that advertisers should rely on for their crypto advertising. 

Stablecoin and Crypto regulation: the UK aligns with Europe

The UK wants the FSMB to give regulators the powers they need to establish rules on cryptocurrencies that the Treasury, the government’s financial arm, is consulting on. 

This regulatory focus on stablecoin and crypto is quite a central issue these days, and the UK is moving forward in a way that aligns with the European Union.

In this regard, the European Union has introduced legislation for MiCa (Markets in Crypto Assets), with the goal of providing comprehensive regulation of the crypto sector. 

More recently though, as crypto conglomerates continue to expand their presence globally, the EU foresees the need for international cooperation and therefore an updated version of the MiCA. 

Despite this, the FSMB will return to the lower house of parliament to agree on the final version. 

Once both chambers have approved the document, it will be sent to the King to be approved and turned into law. The bill can be sent back and forth between the chambers of Parliament until a consensus is reached.

The trend of major stablecoins

As countries deal with stablecoin and crypto regulation, let’s take a look at this past week’s market capitalization performance of the major stablecoins. 

Tether (USDT) saw a decrease in market capitalization on Sunday, 18 June from $83.55 billion to $83.13 billion.

In fact, this decrease could be a readjustment to the levels of early June 2023. USDT’s market capitalization curve is the only one among stablecoins that is fully up. 

Next in line is the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) with its current $28.46 billion total market cap. 

USDC has seen growth in its market cap over the past seven days, especially since last Thursday, 15 June when USDC’s total market capitalization was at $28.06 billion. 

Finally, Binance USD (BUSD) has seen a decrease in market capitalization over the past seven days. In fact, BUSD’s market cap dropped from $4.62 billion to $4.30 billion.