Crypto Laws Enter Final Stages of UK Parliamentary Process

A UK bill that proposes stablecoin and crypto regulation as well as providing crypto promotion supervisions has been approved by the second chamber of the Houses of Parliament, the House of Lords.

The Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB) has already been approved by the House of Commons, meaning that it will now enter the final stages: Consideration of Amendments and Royal Assent.

Consideration of Amendments is a final reading of the bill by both Houses. In this case, the House of Commons will make any amendments to the bill they see fit before the House of Lords approve or deny these changes. The bill will go back and forth until there is an agreement between the Houses.

Royal Assent is where the King formally agrees to make the bill a law. The last time a bill was denied by the Monarch was in 1708 with the Scottish Militia Bill.

As a result, it’s likely that some form of the 340 page document will be made UK law in the near future.

What does the bill mean for crypto?

The original bill only included plans to regulate stablecoins, but amendments added all cryptocurrencies as a regulated activity. Crypto promotion supervisions were also added as the bill passed through Parliament.

Andrew Griffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, told CNBC in April that crypto-specific regulation could be expected within the next 12 months, adding that UK wants to position itself as a “global hub for cryptoasset technology.”

This comes less than a month after the EU brought its own Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation into law.