UK House of Lords backs mandatory digital asset strategy

The UK’s upper chamber just told the Treasury to stop dragging its feet on crypto. The House of Lords has passed an amendment requiring HM Treasury to develop a formal strategy covering crypto assets, stablecoins, tokenized securities, and the broader plumbing of digital financial infrastructure. The move, attached to the Financial Services and Markets Bill, signals that the Lords view the UK’s current positioning in the global crypto race as insufficient, with peers openly citing concerns about falling behind the US and EU. What the amendment actually does The amendment compels the Treasury to produce a cohesive strategy rather than continuing to regulate digital assets in a piecemeal fashion. The scope is broad: crypto assets, stablecoins, tokenized securities, and digital financial infrastructure all fall under its umbrella. The Financial Services Regulation Committee published a report in June 2026 that laid the groundwork for this push. That report urged regulators to ease up on stablecoins, specifically calling for a reconsideration of the initial 40% unremunerated central bank deposit requirement that critics argued would make UK-based stablecoin issuance economically unviab...