Bank of England przedstawia wizję nadzoru nad stablecoinem opartym na funcie szterlingu

When the Bank of England publishes a consultation paper with an introduction by Governor Andrew Bailey, the financial services industry takes notice. Its November 2025 paper on systemic sterling-denominated stablecoins is no exception — it represents the central bank's most detailed vision yet for how digital payment tokens should be regulated in the United Kingdom.

Stablecoins as payment infrastructure

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

What sets this proposal apart from earlier regulatory approaches is its focus on the threshold of "systemic" importance. Non-systemic stablecoins — those not yet widely used for payments — remain under the sole supervision of the FCA. Once a stablecoin crosses the systemic threshold, however, it becomes subject to a dual regulatory regime overseen 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 at the Bank of England itself. This is an exceptional step: in practice, it brings stablecoin issuers into the same financial infrastructure that underpins traditional banking.

For users, this matters because it addresses a fundamental question that has troubled the stablecoin market since its inception: when you hold a stablecoin, can you actually redeem it at face value in fiat currency? The bank's answer is to require exactly that — "stab