The United Kingdom will begin to regulate the cryptoasset market from October 2027, the Ministry of Finance reported this Monday (15). According to the government, the new framework will provide greater legal certainty to the sector and help put an end to the activities of “dubious agents”.
The legislation – which will be presented to Parliament later on Monday – extends rules already applied to the traditional financial system to cryptocurrency companies. As a result, the United Kingdom is opting for a model closer to that adopted by the United States, unlike the European Union which has created a regulatory regime specific to the sector.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the project has only undergone occasional adjustments since its initial release earlier this year.
Global interest in cryptoassets has increased since US President Donald Trump took office promising to support the sector. However, the price of bitcoin – the largest cryptocurrency on the market – has fallen sharply in recent months, after reaching a record high.
In the United States, the industry believes the regulatory approach has been more favorable to cryptocurrencies than that taken in Britain, as the European Union’s crypto asset market rules came into force in 2024.
The UK government said it would work with the US to define best practice on digital assets, through a “transatlantic working group”.
Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said the new rules would set “clear standards of conduct”, strengthen consumer protection and help keep “rogue players” out of the market.
For Natalie Lewis, partner at Travers Smith, the changes in the final version of the legislation tend to be “more than minor”, given the existence of “several technical and legal problems” in the original text.
The UK regulatory framework for cryptoassets has been structured in stages. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) provides specific rules for the trading, prevention of market abuse, custody and issuance of digital assets. Last month, the Bank of England published proposals to regulate stablecoins – cryptocurrencies typically linked to traditional currencies – used in everyday payments.
At the same time, regulators continue to warn of the risks of the sector, emphasizing that investors in crypto assets should prepare for the possibility of losing all invested capital.
The Bank of England and the FCA have said they aim to finalize their regulatory standards by the end of 2026.
Daniel Slutzkin, head of UK operations at Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange, said businesses in the sector have been “long overdue for regulatory clarity” and can now start preparing to comply with the new requirements.
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