Stablecoin Ownership

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts

Thursday 16th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I agree with every word that the noble Lord said. Absolutely, getting the regulatory regime right for this is important. As I said, we will bring forward that legislation by the end of the year.

[Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Crypto and Digital Assets. Does not the Bank of England’s announcement that it plans to regulate how much stablecoin an individual can hold—I say for the benefit of the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, that a stablecoin is simply a digital currency linked to a fiat currency—send a terrible signal to people who want to base their crypto businesses in the UK? Will he ask the Bank of England to publish its modelling? Its reasoning is based on the idea that unlimited holdings of stablecoins might lead to a run on bank deposits.

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. I am sure that, as chair of that group, he could help educate very many of us in this House. As I have said, the Government recognise that facilitating stablecoin innovation is important for UK competitiveness, but it is a matter for the Bank of England, as the independent regulator for systemic stablecoin, to design the regime it sees as necessary to manage the associated risks. As I understand it, in November 2023, the Bank published a discussion paper on its proposed regulatory regime for systemic payment systems using stablecoin, seeking industry feedback. Following further informal engagement, the Bank will formally consult on its systemic stablecoin regime in the coming months.