Bank of England launches policy statement and draft rules on regulating systemic stablecoins

What Changed

• - The Bank of England has published a policy statement “Sterling‑denominated systemic stablecoins” (22 June 2026) and a draft Code of Practice that will constitute the primary rulebook for systemic sterling stablecoin issuers.
• The regime applies only to systemic sterling‑denominated stablecoins used for UK payments, i.e. stablecoins recognised as systemic under Banking Act 2009 tests where disruption could threaten UK financial stability or have serious consequences for UK
• The previous proposal that at least 40% of backing assets be unremunerated central bank deposits and up to 60% in short‑term UK government debt has been revised so that up to 70% of backing assets may now be held in short‑term sterling‑denominated UK
• Backing assets must remain highly liquid and low‑risk, with central bank deposits used explicitly to support prompt redemption in stress, while the expanded gilt component is intended to improve the economic viability of issuers’ business models.
• The BoE has dropped the earlier concept of temporary per‑holder limits (for example, £20,000 per individual and £10 million per business that were consulted on in 2025) and replaced them with a temporary per‑coin issuance guardrail initially set at £
• The £40 billion issuance guardrail is intended to limit risks to bank credit provision while allowing unrestricted use by households and businesses; it will be reviewed regularly and removed once the BoE judges that risks to credit provision have bee

Suggested Considerations

• Conduct a regulatory perimeter and recognition analysis to determine whether any issued or planned sterling‑denominated stablecoin could meet the Banking Act 2009 systemic tests and therefore fall under the BoE systemic stablecoin regime.
• Review and update treasury and investment policies for stablecoin backing assets to ensure the portfolio structure can comply with the revised requirement of up to 70% short‑term UK government debt and the remainder in BoE deposits.
• Perform detailed liquidity and redemption stress‑testing to evidence that central bank deposits and gilt portfolios can support prompt redemption under extreme but plausible scenarios while remaining within the £40 billion issuance guardrail.
• Re‑calibrate business plans and revenue models for systemic stablecoin issuance to reflect the increased allowable share of interest‑bearing gilts, the absence of per‑holder limits, and continued constraints on paying interest to coinholders.
• Design and implement governance and risk‑management frameworks that meet BoE expectations for systemic payment systems, including Board‑level oversight, risk appetite for digital money, and clear accountability for prudential and operational risks.
• Map and document the end‑to‑end stablecoin payment chain, identifying potentially systemic service providers (e.g. cloud, ledger infrastructure, wallet providers) and preparing for BoE expectations on oversight, due diligence, and operational resilience of those third parties.

Key Dates

Who is Affected