US-UK FIP June Meeting Signals Countries' Interest In Digital Assets & Stablecoins

The US-UK Financial Innovation Partnership held its third Regulatory Pillar meeting on 29 June. Both countries’ representatives met in London to discuss subjects of mutual interest in the area of the growing industry of crypto assets and stablecoins.

The US & UK are looking into the exploration of CBDCs

As a product of the meeting, a joint publication on the official UK government’s site noted that crypto assets and stablecoins play a significant role in the digital asset industry, stating that there is a need for a “robust cross-border regulatory cooperation” between the two countries.

Participants from both countries also looked into recent happenings in the crypto space and how the novel idea of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) can be explored to further improve financial situations.

Participants from the U.S. were American independent regulatory agencies including but not limited to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. UK participants were staff from the Bank of England (BoE) and the Financial Conduct Authority.

A fourth meeting is scheduled to be held sometime in July, in which the subject, as well as other financial innovation topics, will be further discussed. The first meeting was held in August of 2020, and the second was in July of last year.

The UK government will be testing Distributed Ledger Technology next year

The UK has been at the forefront of CBDC integration, as the European country’s government’s fascination with the idea grows. The Bank of England has indicated an interest in exploring the area. Crypto entity Tether recently launched GBPT – a stablecoin pegged to the Pound – citing a favorable outlook on CBDCs by the UK government as one reason.

The UK government recently announced the testing of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) as part of its efforts to make the country a “global crypto hub.” The UK Treasury is expected to inaugurate “sandbox”, a financial market structure that will carry out this test, next year.

The situation is slightly different in the U.S., as several crypto firms appear choked by certain strict regulatory policies by U.S financial agencies, especially the SEC. The crypto community can only hope that this “regulatory cooperation” discussed in the meeting will create a friendly environment for crypto in both jurisdictions.

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