Financial regulators across the planet have been doing everything in their power to bring cryptocurrencies and virtual assets under their mandate. Ever since the inception of Bitcoin and the altcoin industry, many traditional bodies have been convinced that the rules might need to be amended to accommodate the latest technology.
The latest traditional body to make a statement on the virtual assets industry was the Bank of England, which specifically stated that it needed to stay a step or two ahead of the emerging stablecoin market. This comment was made by the newly appointed BoE Governor Andrew Bailey who took charge of the post in March of this year.
The stablecoin market is still perceived as an emerging market despite the rise of major tokens like Tether. These tokens are linked with the US dollar which makes their prices much more ‘stable’ than the rest of the pack. Stablecoins shot into the limelight when Facebook announced its own called Libra coin. This disrupted the already controversial market with policymakers convinced that they had to do something about it.
Coming back to the Bank of England Governor, he claimed that the traditional market heads should ensure proper coverage of the cryptocurrency market. In his words:
“If stablecoins are to be widely used as a means of payment, they must have equivalent standards to those that are in place today for other forms of payment types and the forms of money transferred through them. If a sterling retail stablecoin wishes to operate at scale in the UK, then we will strongly consider the need for an entity to be incorporated in the UK.”
The United Kingdom has made some radical changes over the past couple of years to strengthen its financial ecosystem and protect it from anything that may hurt its integrity. Apart from this, the country has also asked the G20 nations to adopt stringent standards to watch over the cryptocurrency industry. This was a point reiterated by Andrew Bailey who claimed that existing regulatory standards must be examined and updated where necessary in light of stablecoins.