Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of introducing further regulations for (a) cryptocurrency exchanges and (b) other aspects of cryptocurrency markets.

The UK is committed to creating a regulatory environment in which firms can innovate, while crucially maintaining financial stability and regulatory standards so that people and businesses can use new technologies both reliably and safely.

The Financial Services and Markets Bill will bring stablecoins within the regulatory perimeter where they are used as a form of payment. This legislation will ensure that the UK’s regulatory framework is equipped to harness benefits of stablecoins, supporting the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, while mitigating the potential risks.

HM Treasury will consult on an approach to regulating a wider set of cryptoasset activities in the coming weeks.

The Financial Services and Markets Bill also ensures that cryptoassets may be regulated within the existing financial services regulatory framework.

In addition to this, in January 2022 the government published a response to a consultation on a proposal to bring certain cryptoassets into the scope of financial promotions regulation. The forthcoming legislation, and supporting FCA rules, will regulate in-scope cryptoasset financial promotions, requiring them to be fair, clear and not misleading.