The U.K. Treasury has announced that King Charles III has signed a bill aimed at “restoring control over the body of financial services regulations.”
In addition to provisions defining the rules for traditional financial services, the new law recognizes cryptocurrency transactions as a regulated activity. Under the new regulations, the U.K. supervisory authorities are given the expanded powers needed to create and implement regulations for the crypto industry. It is expected that new regulations for the U.K. digital asset market could come into effect in the next 12 months.
Comments from experts following the signing of the Financial Services Act say that by doing so, Britain intends to close the gap with the European Union, which recently finalized its own law on the crypto-asset market. The new law will allow cryptocurrency companies to take advantage of Brexit freedom and give regulators more power over the U.K. financial system.
Earlier, the Law Commission for England and Wales (LCEW) published
recommendations for reforming and developing legislation related to digital assets. In particular, the LCEW has proposed the introduction of a new category of “digital objects” into legal practice, legally enshrining digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and non-exchangeable tokens (NFTs) as personal property.