The UK's crypto lobby is intensifying its efforts to persuade the government of the world's fifth-largest economy to define its ambition for digital finance and deliver greater clarity on what will be allowed in the crypto markets.
UK Crypto Firms Press Lawmakers for Regulatory Clarity
16 May 2026 - 18:06 CEST
Sector representatives met on 15 May in the House of Lords, the UK Parliament's upper chamber, to mark the start of the new parliamentary term. The meeting, organized by the Digital Assets Global Forum and hosted by Lord Taylor of Warwick, centred on the argument that the UK has a limited window to put in place a regulatory framework that supports growth in the sector.
Narrow opportunity
Joey Garcia, director and chief strategy, policy and regulatory affairs officer at Xapo Bank (a Gibraltar-based digital banking platform offering crypto services), said the UK’s track record in building trusted financial markets gave it an advantage, but warned that opportunity could quickly be lost. He projected a narrow 18-month window before the UK risks falling behind other jurisdictions.
The UK is yet to complete a regulatory regime for crypto markets. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the country’s primary financial services regulator, is consulting on policy proposals at a time when other jurisdictions are seeking to go one-up on countries that move more slowly. The Bank of England has said it is considering easing aspects of its planned approach to stablecoin regulation, including the possibility of raising caps on stablecoin ownership. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a steady value, usually pegged to the US dollar or other fiat currencies.
Transatlantic cues
Several speakers argued that the UK should take cues from the US approach. Dr Lisa Cameron, the former lawmaker who now runs the UK-US Crypto Alliance and oversees the Digital Assets Global Forum, said the UK needed to learn from the US if it wanted to retain its position as a global financial centre.
Cameron sees members of the populist Reform party as the key parliamentary proponents of crypto, rather than the two main political parties, Labour and the Conservatives. But Reform holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons and its leader, Nigel Farage, is the subject of a probe by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner related to an alleged £5mn payment from crypto investor Christopher Harborne, according to reports from the BBC and other UK media. According to the new Sunday Times Rich List, Harborne’s wealth exceeds £18bn.
The government has also been occupied this year responding to international issues, including the US and Israel’s actions in Iran and threats to the NATO alliance. Crypto trading rules did not feature in this week’s King’s Speech, which set out the government’s legislative agenda for the coming year.
Lord Taylor contrasted what he described as the "US psyche of ‘Who needs regulation? Let’s just get on with it!’" with the UK’s more cautious stance. A former barrister, Taylor bore the brunt of the UK's 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal, serving a prison term for false accounting after claiming £11,277 in expenses he was not entitled to. More recently, he has taken a consistent interest in the digital assets space. A review of Taylor’s written questions to the government during April shows enquiries on the growth of fintech firms, use of digital payments and technologies for tax payments and, moreover, uses of artificial intelligence (AI).
Technology, progress
He suggested the UK required a greater degree of urgency, drawing parallels with its role in leading the Industrial Revolution, the period of history during which Britain boosted manufacturing and living standards.
David Zell of the Bitcoin Policy Institute used this week's event to query the need for regulation as a prerequisite for technological progress: "Nothing can stop Bitcoin, and it will be fine," Zell said. Instead, he argued, the government should focus on adapting to the technology and putting measures in place to manage its growth, so that "the UK can flourish."
A rules-based order has nonetheless been the strategy of all the major crypto hubs, from the US to the UAE, Hong Kong and Singapore. The US CLARITY Act, which was stalled last year by a government shutdown and by negotiations on the text, would inform the US crypto industry about how to operate in a new market structure for digital assets. The bill's progress picked up pace again this week in the Senate.
Taking a position
"We know President Trump’s position," Garcia, of the Gibraltar-based Xapo Bank, said at the event. "We don’t know what the position of the UK government is."
Trump spearheaded a 2025 campaign to reverse regulators' previous enforcement-led approach to crypto, to complete stablecoin legislation and advance market structure rules. Nonetheless, he famously reversed his position on crypto in the lead up to his re-election in 2024 as president, having previously described Bitcoin, the original and largest cryptocurrency asset, as a "scam."
