Bank of England schetst visie op toezicht op stablecoins in ponden

When the Bank of England publishes a consultation paper with a foreword by Governor Andrew Bailey, the financial sector pays close attention. The November 2025 document on systemic sterling stablecoins is no exception — it represents the central bank's most detailed vision to date on how digital payment tokens should be regulated in the UK.

Stablecoins as payment infrastructure

The core idea behind the Bank's proposal is straightforward: stablecoins used at scale for everyday payments can pose risks to UK financial stability, and therefore require regulation proportionate to that risk. This is not a theoretical concern. Global stablecoin transaction volume surpassed 33 trillion dollars in 2025, and the Bank is positioning itself to manage the systemic implications before they materialize, 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 used for payments — remain solely under FCA supervision. But once a stablecoin enters systemic territory, it falls under a dual regulatory regime overseen by both the Bank of England and the FCA.

The backing requirements

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

For users, this matters because it addresses the fundamental question that has followed the stablecoin market since its inception: when you hold a stablecoin, can you actually redeem it for fiat currency at par value? The Bank's answer is to require exactly that — "stability of the nominal value, a robust legal