UK's Crypto Legislation Expected by 2026, Insights from FCA Roadmap and Survey

Under the previous UK Conservative government, stablecoin and cryptocurrency staking regulations were expected to be in place by now. However, the new Labour government, aiming to foster innovation, is deprioritizing stablecoin legislation. According to a recent speech by Tulip Siddiq, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, all cryptocurrency regulations will be implemented in a single phase.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has outlined a roadmap for consultations, suggesting that legislation will come into effect in 2026, likely toward the end of the year. This week, the FCA also released the results of a crypto survey and noted that consultations will be divided into four groups. Initial discussion papers on admission, disclosures, and market abuse are expected this quarter, with consultations slated for Q3 of 2025.

The FCA’s blog post highlighted challenges related to decentralized issuers disclosing data. One proposed approach is for crypto exchanges to provide customers with information based on publicly available data. This strategy could encourage decentralized projects to make sufficient data accessible, as they would likely aim for exchange listings, and exchanges would want to minimize their workload.

Despite this plan, the FCA survey revealed that exchanges rank only as the fourth most popular source of research for investors. Online forums lead the list, followed by friends and family, and then social media.

The remaining three sets of discussion and consultation papers will focus on:

• Trading platforms, intermediation, lending, staking, and prudential exposures
• Stablecoins, custody, and prudential standards (capital, liquidity, and risk management)
• Conduct and firm standards for regulated activities

UK Crypto Ownership Continues to Rise

The YouGov survey reported a rise in UK crypto ownership, with 12% of adults holding cryptocurrency in 2023, up from 10% in 2022. The average investment value increased from £1,595 to £1,842. Interestingly, a third of respondents mistakenly believed they could file complaints with the FCA despite crypto remaining unregulated.

Advertising had a mixed impact. While 60% of viewers reported no influence, 2% of those who had not considered buying crypto went on to invest after seeing an advert, and 10% who were already contemplating crypto made a purchase. However, 9% were discouraged from investing.

Awareness of crypto also rose from 91% to 93%. Bitcoin leads with 78% awareness, followed by Ethereum at 31% and Dogecoin at 30%. Awareness of Solana and TRON stands at 11% and 10%, respectively. Among current crypto holders, Ethereum and Dogecoin are nearly as recognized as Bitcoin.

Currently, crypto remains largely unregulated in the UK and high-risk. If something goes wrong, it is unlikely you will be protected so you should be prepared to lose all your money. The research comes as the FCA has started to share their approach to regulating crypto.

Matthew Long, director of payments and digital assets at the FCA, stated "Our research results highlight the need for clear regulation that supports a safe, competitive, and sustainable crypto sector in the UK. We want to develop a sector that embraces innovation and is underpinned by market integrity and consumer trust".  "We’re committed to working closely with the Government, international partners, industry and consumers to help us get the future rules right," he added.