Bank of England načrtla víziu dohľadu nad librovým stablecoinom

When the Bank of England publishes a consultation paper with a foreword from Governor Andrew Bailey, the financial services sector pays attention. The November 2025 paper on systemic sterling-denominated stablecoins is no exception — it sets out the central bank's most detailed vision yet for how digital payment tokens should be regulated in Britain.

Stablecoins as payment infrastructure

The core premise of the bank's proposal is clear: stablecoins that become widely used for everyday payments could pose a risk to UK financial stability, and therefore require regulation proportionate to that risk. This is not a theoretical concern. Global stablecoin transaction volumes exceeded USD 33 trillion in 2025, and the bank is preparing to manage the systemic implications before they arise, rather than after.

What sets this proposal apart from earlier regulatory approaches is its focus on the "systemic" threshold. Non-systemic stablecoins — those not yet widely adopted for payments — remain solely under FCA oversight. But once a stablecoin crosses into systemic territory, it enters a dual regulatory regime supervised by both the Bank of England and the FCA.

Backing requirements

The most significant aspect of the proposal concerns how stablecoin issuers must back their tokens. The bank proposes that systemic issuers hold a portion of their backing assets in short-term UK government debt and maintain deposit accounts directly with the Bank of England. This is a notable development: it effectively integrates stablecoin issuers into the same financial infrastructure that underpins traditional banking.

For users, this matters because it addresses a fundamental question that has accompanied the stablecoin market since its inception: when you hold a stablecoin, can you genuinely redeem it for face value in fiat currency? The bank's answer is to establish precisely this requirement — "stability of nominal value, a robust legal claim, and the ability to redeem at par in fiat currency at any time".

Implications for the digital