Despite the promises of the last prime ministers to transform the United Kingdom into an crypto center, the United Kingdom is still prudent to regulate the cryptography industry.
In 2022, then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to modify the laws governing cryptographic industry in the United Kingdom, which made them more user-friendly for blockchain companies. Rhetoric may have relieved entrepreneurs, but industry leaders and observers say that progress is slow and that it still does not have the rules it wants to develop.
The Labor government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not do much to advance this program; Crypto has taken a rear seat on other concerns. Tom Spiller, partner of the law of Rosenblatt focused on the crypto, told Cintelegraph that work “seems more prudent and that there is not a clear objective which is in the key missions of the government”.
The past promises of transforming the United Kingdom into an cryptographic center have not concluded, but the signs suggest that the tide changes.
Things could improve for the British cryptography industry
In the United States, the crypto is an actively prosecuted partisan issue, but the main political parties in the United Kingdom are almost also not committed.
In April 2022, the conservative government led by Sunak announced a plan to make the United Kingdom a cryptographic center. The proposed measures included the recognition of stablecoins as a form of payment, the introduction of a “sand infrastructure tank” and the establishment of a “group of engagement for cryptocurrency” to work with the industry.
The reform announced that it would accept contributions from the Bitcoin campaign (BTC) earlier this year, and work, while highlighting concerns about user protection, was not hostile outside the industry either.
James Harris, CEO of the Société Fintech Tesseract, told Cintelegraph that “tone was mainly one of prudence and consumer protection, slowly giving way to pragmatism. This was not reversed by the new government, which suggests an alignment bipartite. ”
“Overall, the Crypto in the United Kingdom always feels opportunistic rather than ideological.”
Harris added that there are encouraging signs. He said that the CP25/14 CP25/14 document suggests a change of CP25/14 of the Treasury HM April
In relation: The finance regulator of the United Kingdom FCA has “dissuasive” in the cryptographic industry, explains Cryptouk
The Treasury consultation, which closed in May, proposed changes to the FSMA which would allow the issue of stables, the development and other Crypto activities. The CP25 / 14 of the Financial Conduct Authority proposed but has not implemented a set of rules for stablescoins and police custody.
The property bill (digital active ingredients, etc.), which has experienced a recent debate in Parliament, could soon recognize digital assets as a property. If it is adopted, the law would represent “a major breakthrough”.
The British cryptography industry wants regulators to be more decisive
Despite these positive developments for industry, some are concerned about the speed of the supposed change of opinion of the government on cryptocurrencies.
Spiller said: “There are concerns about the rate of progress, in particular in relation to developments in the courts like the United States. This slower moment risks encouraging talents and capital to migrate elsewhere. ”
The United Kingdom “is still behind its global peers,” said Harris. He stressed that the EU has its markets in the regulatory framework of crypto-sets (Mica), the United Arab Emirates largely accept crypto, and the United States “makes significant legislative progress which gives more clarity than ever”.
Industry groups have increased their campaigns to try to change the legal landscape in the United Kingdom. Cryptouk, a commercial organization for cryptographic industry, “linked deputies, peers, regulators, media and other stakeholders” to modify the laws, according to a spokesperson.
More specifically, the group has called on regulators to recognize stablecoins, to institute what it considers to be more equitable banking policies “so that more digital asset companies can use the same financial services as other companies in the United Kingdom can use” and modify advertising rules.
According to Spiller, there is also room for the United Kingdom to improve the way in which he manages cryptographic assets that he has criminal crises. “These assets are not always managed optimally. There is an opportunity for better management of these assets for the benefit of the public bag. ”
The Ministry of the Interior and the Country Treasury Head, Rachel Reeves, are currently trying to sell some of these assets worth $ 7 billion to complete the government’s budget. Harris thinks that it always indicates an imperfect understanding and a “short -term vision of the crypto”.
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The cryptography sector has been largely able to align with the government’s anti-flow requirements and instituted the travel rule. “There are robust tools available to support compliance, and the players responsible for space use them,” said Spiller.
However, a key obstacle is that many cryptographic projects are not easily classified under the current law governing traditional financial instruments. Industry observers say there must be more nuanced and adjusted regulations.
Regulations change the industry landscape
In April, when the government announced its draft legislation for cryptographic industry, it highlighted consumer protection and declared that the new law would be “[crack] Below on bad actors while supporting legitimate innovation. »»
The appearance of specific and robust regulatory frameworks, such as mica in Europe, should cause consolidation in the local cryptography industry. Illegitimate or illegal actors, as well as small businesses that cannot pay the compliance bill, should leave the market. In turn, large compliant companies will take their place and compete with each other for market share.
This trend is also expected in the United States, where Congress aims to adopt its clarity law, which will provide a tailor-made regulatory regime for the cryptography industry. President Donald Trump has already signed the genius law governing stablecoins last week.
According to an article in May 2025 of three partners from the White & Case international law firm, “players such as Coinbase, Kraken and Circle should execute additional short -term acquisitions. […] Coinbase plans to acquire two or three foreign cryptocurrency exchanges over the next two years. »»
It goes without saying that the same remodeling of the blockchain’s commercial landscape could be true for the British crypto industry, that is to say if the government can cross the changes that the industry wishes.
On this point, Pro-Crypto observers say that the United Kingdom is still evolving too slowly. Harris said: “There is still a lot to do if the United Kingdom wants to recover its ambitions as” crypto-hub “.”
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