The Bank of England will accept applications for stablecoins, viewing them as a new form of currency

According to Decrypt, Bank of England Executive Director Sasha Mills stated that the Bank of England views stablecoins as "a new form of currency" and will not "pick winners" between tokenized deposits and stablecoins. Mills mentioned that the Bank of England will open applications for "systemic stablecoins" by the end of the year, which are widely used for payments and may pose risks to financial stability, and will be regulated by the central bank.

Matthew Long, Director of Payments and Digital Assets at the Financial Conduct Authority, stated that other stablecoins are regulated by the FCA, and there is still room for pound-denominated stablecoins to play a role. Mills also pointed out that 99% of stablecoins globally are dollar-denominated and do not comply with the U.S. GENIUS Act, and the UK is aligned with the U.S. on the timeline.