UK Government Defeated Over Digital Asset Regulation Strategy

The UK government has suffered a defeat in the House of Lords as peers backed an amendment requiring the Treasury to draw up a national strategy for regulating digital assets.

The amendment, moved by Baroness Neville-Rolfe, a Conservative former Treasury minister, would require the Treasury to prepare and publish a strategy for regulating and developing digital assets, including cryptoassets, stablecoins, Central Bank Digital Currencies, tokenised securities, and other digital and tokenised financial assets.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority finalised its regulatory framework for cryptoassets in June, with the regime due to take effect on 25 October 2027. The country is trailing behind Brussels and Washington in terms of digital asset regulation, with the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation having applied since 30 December 2024.