John Glen, the United Kingdom’s financial services minister, has said that stablecoins will be the main focus of the government\u2019s crypto regulatory activity.<\/p>\n
Glen made delivered his\u00a0comments\u00a0while addressing a conference organized by City & Financial Global on Tuesday, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
For Glen, the U.K.\u2019s decision to prioritize stablecoins over regulating the broader financial market is due to fears of monopolies emerging in the market based on the limited number of participants offering fiat-pegged cryptocurrency payment services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is the potential for some firms to swiftly achieve dominance and crowd out other players, due to their ability to scale and plug into existing online services,\u201d Glen remarked.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the minister\u2019s argument echoes sentiments espoused by several financial regulators against the Diem stablecoin project. Initially dubbed Libra, regulatory authorities in different countries pointed to Facebook\u2019s global presence as a significant risk factor to sovereign monetary policies associated with the planned digital currency project.<\/p>\n
Diem for its part has attempted to smoothen these regulatory wrinkles by making wholesale changes to the project. However, Diem is yet to receive the necessary regulatory approval to begin launching its stablecoin.<\/p>\n
Glen\u2019s comments are the latest indication of the U.K. government\u2019s focus on stablecoins as part of efforts to promote novel fintech innovations amid the country\u2019s withdrawal from the European Union.<\/p>\n
Back in November 2020, Rishi Sunak, chancellor of the Exchequer remarked that Brexit offered an inflection point for the U.K.\u2019s financial services industry. At the time, Sunak revealed that the government would prioritize harnessing novel fintech innovations like central bank digital currencies and stablecoins to ensure the country keeps pace with the developments in the emerging digital economy.<\/p>\n
As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the U.K. finance policy department called for public consultation on proposed rules for cross-border stablecoins back in January 2021.<\/p>\n