Bank of England says it will be ‘the banker to the stablecoin’

The Bank of England has picked a side in the stablecoin debate. It wants to be the bank behind them. A Bank of England deputy said the central bank will serve as “the banker to the stablecoin,” a notable phrase from an institution not usually known for warm words about crypto. The comment follows a June 22, 2026 policy statement that softens several of the bank’s earlier proposals for sterling-denominated stablecoins. The changes came after what the bank described as extensive feedback from industry. What the Bank of England actually changed The policy statement arrived alongside a draft Code of Practice for stablecoin issuers. Together, they form the latest version of the framework for sterling stablecoins that reach systemic scale. The headline change is a new cap. Each stablecoin will face a temporary £40 billion issuance guardrail. That guardrail replaces something the industry liked far less: limits on how much any individual could hold. Under the earlier approach, the restriction landed on users. Under the new one, it lands on the size of each coin. The second big change concerns reserves, the pool of assets backing each token. The bank raised the share of reserves that can s...