On April 3, 2024, the Bank of England and U.K. Financial Conduct Authority published a joint consultation paper on proposed rules for the incoming digital securities sandbox. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023...more
The Law Commission, a U.K. body which makes suggestions for legislative reform, is consulting on wording for a possible draft piece of legislation establishing a third category of personal property that would encompass...more
The Law Commission, a U.K. body which makes suggestions for legislative reform, has published a call for evidence on the operation of English private international law (conflicts of law rules) in relation to digital assets...more
The European Securities and Markets Authority has published two consultation papers on proposed guidelines under the EU Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation, one on reverse solicitation and the other on the classification of...more
The Payment Systems Regulator has published its Final Policy Statement on its new regime for fighting authorized push payment scams. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (discussed in our client note, “A Boost for UK...more
Following its consultation in 2023, the International Organization of Securities Commissions published its Policy Recommendations for Decentralized Finance on December 19, 2023. The nine recommendations are intended to...more
Following its consultation in 2023, the International Organization of Securities Commissions published its Policy Recommendations for Crypto and Digital Asset Markets on November 16, 2023. The 18 recommendations are intended...more
HM Treasury has published a consultation response and draft statutory instrument on reforms to the high net worth and sophisticated investor exemptions under the financial promotions regime. The Financial Services and Markets...more
HM Treasury has published a response to its consultation on cryptoasset regulation, setting out its final proposals for the U.K.'s cryptoasset regulatory regime. The U.K. plans to make cryptoassets a new category of...more
11/10/2023
/ Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
MiFID II ,
Payment Systems ,
UK
HM Treasury has published a Policy Paper on Plans for the Regulation of Fiat-backed Stablecoins, setting out the next steps for the implementation of stablecoin regulation in the U.K. Fiat-backed stablecoins are (under HM...more
The U.K. Jurisdiction Taskforce has published a consultation relating to its proposed Legal Statement offering guidance on the application of English insolvency law principles to digital assets. The proposed Legal Statement...more
10/20/2023
/ Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Debt Financing ,
Debt Restructuring ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
FinTech ,
Insolvency ,
UK ,
UK Insolvency Act
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority published a Policy Statement on 12 September 2023 setting out how it intends to implement the new regulatory gateway for financial promotions. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023...more
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has launched a review of the treatment by regulated financial services firms of Politically Exposed Persons based in the U.K. Firms are currently obliged, under the Money Laundering,...more
The Joint Money Laundering Steering Group has published revisions to its Sector 22 Guidance on Cryptoasset exchange providers and custodian wallet providers along with a new Annex I, setting out guidance on the U.K. Travel...more
HM Treasury has published a response to its consultation on payments regulation and the systemic perimeter. The consultation was prompted by the U.K. government's Payments Landscape Review and HM Treasury's concern that some...more
HM Treasury has published a consultation on the establishment of a financial market infrastructure sandbox, known as the Digital Securities Sandbox. The sandbox will be established using new powers granted by the...more
On June 8, 2023, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority published its final Policy Statement setting out detailed rules for the U.K.'s cryptoasset financial promotions regime. The Policy Statement follows the publication on...more
On 7 June 2023, the U.K. government published a statutory instrument (the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) (Amendment) Order 2023 (FP (Amendment) Order) and related explanatory memorandum)...more
6/13/2023
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
New Legislation ,
Securities ,
UK
On May 18, 2023, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), the intergovernmental organization for modernizing and coordinating private law, published a set of draft Principles on Digital...more
On April 20, 2023, the agreed text of the proposed European Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation was given final approval by the European Parliament. The Regulation is intended to improve legal certainty in the regulatory...more
5/10/2023
/ Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EU ,
European Parliament ,
Financial Services and Markets Act ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Member State ,
Popular ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
The U.K. government has published its much-anticipated proposals for regulating the cryptoasset industry. These proposals, currently in the form of a consultation, will see many (but not all) cryptoasset-related activities...more
The Bank of England has published a joint consultation paper with HM Treasury on the possibility of a digital pound in the U.K. It is envisaged that the digital pound would be a retail central bank digital currency, to be...more
The U.K. Government announced on 9 December 2022 a series of initiatives, billed as the Edinburgh Reforms, to reform the laws for the U.K. financial services sector. In this note, we consider these reforms in detail and what...more
12/21/2022
/ Banking Sector ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Sustainable Finance ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
Innovate Finance and Shearman & Sterling has submitted a comprehensive evidence paper to the House of Commons Treasury Committee inquiry into crypto-assets.
Analysis produced by Innovate Finance specially for the...more
10/6/2022
/ Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
UK
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published a consultation paper on proposed guidance on the regulatory perimeter for multilateral trading facilities and on possible future changes to smaller trading venues' regulatory...more