Skip to content
Blockchain Posts

regulation

FCA finalises UK crypto rulebook on June 30, drops stablecoin capital floor to 1%

FCA publishes final UK crypto rules June 30, 2026. Applications open Sept 30, close Feb 28, 2027; regime live October 2027; stablecoin capital floor cut from 2% to 1%.

by 5 min read
regulationfcaunited-kingdomstablecoin

The Financial Conduct Authority published the final version of the UK crypto rulebook on June 30, 2026, closing an 18-month consultation cycle and setting the timetable that will bind every firm servicing UK retail crypto customers by October 2027. The final package covers exchanges, custodians, trading platforms, stablecoin issuers, staking providers and crypto lending services under a single authorisation regime. The FCA press release lands at fca.org.uk, and the prudential piece — including the reduced stablecoin capital floor — is packaged in Consultation Paper CP25/42. Same-day secondary coverage ran across Yahoo Finance / Bloomberg wire, CryptoSlate and news.bitcoin.com.

What changed on June 30

The publication resolves the industry pushback that has driven the last two consultation rounds — CP25/14 on stablecoin issuance and custody, and CP25/42 on the prudential regime. Four decisions matter.

  1. Stablecoin capital floor reduced. Fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers must hold 1% of issued value in own funds, down from the 2% floor in the November 2025 consultation. The change tracks industry submissions that argued the 2% level was uncompetitive with the EU MiCA EMT regime.
  2. Existing AML registration does not roll over. UK crypto firms currently holding a Money Laundering Regulations 2017 registration must file a fresh authorisation under the new regime — there is no grandfathering, no conversion, no dual-track. Firms that miss the window lose the right to serve UK retail from Day 1 of the new regime.
  3. Single authorisation, six activities. The perimeter is unified: dealing in crypto, arranging deals, operating a trading platform, custody, staking, and crypto lending each carry their own permission and their own conduct book.
  4. Non-systemic stablecoin remit stays with FCA; systemic goes to the Bank of England. The June 30 rulebook is explicit that a stablecoin passing the systemic threshold moves from the FCA regime into the joint BoE/FCA regime set out in the BoE's June 22 policy statement on sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins — a transition covered here in BoE drops £20k stablecoin holding cap, sets £40bn per-issuer ceiling.

Timeline

- Final rules published:          2026-06-30
- Consultation paper:             CP25/42 (prudential regime for cryptoasset firms)
- Companion paper:                CP25/14 (stablecoin issuance and custody)
- Application window opens:       2026-09-30
- Application window closes:      2027-02-28
- Regime in force:                October 2027
- Stablecoin issuer capital:      1% of issued value (was 2% in November 2025 CP)
- Perimeter — regulated activities:
    dealing in crypto
    arranging deals in crypto
    operating a crypto trading platform
    crypto custody
    crypto staking
    crypto lending
- Legacy MLR 2017 registration:   does NOT convert; fresh authorisation required
- Systemic stablecoin remit:      shifts from FCA to BoE + FCA joint regime
- Sources: FCA press release; CP25/42; CryptoSlate; news.bitcoin.com

Who this binds and who it doesn't

The rulebook binds any firm providing the six regulated activities to a UK-based consumer. A crypto trading platform without UK retail flow — an offshore venue that has never onboarded a UK-resident retail user — sits outside the perimeter. Institutional flow through professional clients is handled separately under the FCA's professional-only carve-outs but still requires the exchange or custodian to be authorised for the specific activity.

Firms that decide to exit rather than authorise face an operational deadline earlier than October 2027: the FCA has signalled it expects unauthorised UK-facing services to have wound down by the go-live, which in practice means restricting UK IP access and customer onboarding across the summer of 2027. Legacy MLR-registered firms should read the six-month application window as the last window to remain in the market.

What to watch

  1. Who files first. The September 30 application window opens the queue. Coinbase (UK e-money license already in hand), Kraken UK, Bitstamp UK, Gemini UK, and Zodia Custody are the near-certain Day 1 filers. Foreign-parented players that have deprioritised the UK — the largest of the ex-UK cohort — will not file at all.
  2. Non-bank stablecoin issuers. The 1% own-funds floor lands lower than the MiCA EMT baseline in practice, which makes the UK a viable venue for sterling stablecoin issuers who found the November 2025 draft prohibitive. Whether that translates into a wave of sterling-issuance filings before the September 30 open is the near-term signal.
  3. Staking permission. The rulebook creates a distinct permission for crypto staking — the first G7 jurisdiction to do so as a standalone activity. The scope draws in the Lido / Kiln / Blockdaemon-style delegation stack: the operator, not the underlying protocol, holds the permission. The interplay with SEC and CFTC posture on staking in the US is where cross-border listing decisions will be forced.
  4. CP25/42 responses. Even with rules final, CP25/42 remains open for feedback on the prudential detail — the exact liquid-asset ratio bracket, the operational-risk buffer under Article 92-style calculations, the pillar-2 add-on. Comments are due in the summer of 2026; final PS to follow before the application window opens.

Context — the third G7 crypto rulebook shipped this year

The UK is the third G7 jurisdiction in 2026 to publish a live crypto regime. The EU MiCA transitional period ends today, July 1, 2026 — see ESMA MiCA statement of 23 June on winding down unauthorised CASPs — and Japan's June 11 FIEA bill extends financial-instruments rules to crypto, covered in Japan FIEA crypto bill clears Lower House with 20% tax. The US CLARITY Act is still working its way through the Senate: our post on CLARITY Act section 604 and the Catholic-leader letter to Thune and Schumer covers the current friction.

The four regimes converge on a small set of bright lines — segregation of client crypto, 1:1 redeemable stablecoin reserves, mandatory disclosures on staking risk, custody safeguards. Where they diverge is telling: the UK ships staking as a standalone regulated activity; MiCA groups it under CASP conduct rules; Japan leaves staking to industry self-regulation; the US has not decided. Firms building EU + UK + US client bases now need three legal opinions where they used to need one.

Sources:

Related stories