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UK Regulator Intends to Start Authorizing Crypto Firms in 2026

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The U.K.’s crypto industry has just over 12 months to prepare for an even stricter regulatory regime, a senior official with the country’s finance regulator said.

Matthew Long, director of payments and digital assets at the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), told CoinDesk in an interview that the «impending gateway regime» that is earmarked for 2026 will in fact be a new authorization regime for crypto companies.

«We will have a gateway which will allow authorization. But obviously we’ve got to go through those consultations, create those rules and get the legislation for that to take place,» Long said.

This regime will be a leap from the current anti-money laundering (AML) one. Firms like crypto exchanges Coinbase, Gemini and Bitpanda will move away from just needing to register with the country to comply with anti-money laundering rules to an authorization regime with rules for a suite of offerings. This will require them to go through a fresh process to secure approval from the FCA.

The FCA intends to release papers on stablecoins, trading platforms, staking, prudential crypto exposure and more this year. The regime is expected to go live after final policy papers are published in 2026, Long said.

Since its anti-money laundering register for firms opened in 2020, the FCA received 368 applications from firms wishing to comply, but only 50 firms — 14% of applicants — have been approved so far. Many firms may have to start again.

Read more: U.K. Financial Regulator Aims for Crypto Regime by 2026

Regulated activities

Upcoming legislation will define what counts as a regulated activity, the FCA’s Long said. Companies that engage in those activities will need to seek authorization.

In 2023 the former U.K. government released papers that said regulated activities would likely include crypto and fiat-referenced stablecoins issuance as well as payment, exchange and lending activities.

Stablecoins will no longer be brought under the U.K. payments regulations as set out in previous work, former Economic Secretary Tulip Siddiq said in November. The FCA plans to consult on draft rules for stablecoins early this year.

«What we’re doing in terms of the stablecoins is we’re making sure that we take the best from the current regulation that exists in TradFi, but stablecoins are ultimately unique,» Long said. «There isn’t anything that is exactly the same. We’ve got to adapt the regulation that we’ve currently got.»

Read more: UK to Draft a Regulatory Framework for Crypto, Stablecoins Early Next Year

Transition

The FCA is still deciding on the process crypto companies will need to go through to get authorized, Long said.

Long added that it was undecided what steps those who are already registered in the money laundering regime will need to take but the new regime will come with wider permissions,» so we’d expect that if you wanted the further permissions, you’d apply for them.»

Therefore companies may need to go through a lengthy registration process — even if they’ve already secured an existing license.

«We’ll be communicating with firms about what the gateway will look like before it goes live, our intention is to bring it live as soon as humanly possible,» Long said referring to the authorization regime.

In formulating how it intends to move forward, the regulator plans to also look at Europe which has launched bespoke legislation for the crypto sector and the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ 18 recommendations. IOSCO will soon be publishing a piece on how countries are progressing with its standards, someone familiar with the matter said.

«It’s a case of understanding and looking for best practice,» Long said.

Read more: UK Crypto Firms and Regulator Blame Each Other for Industry Exodus

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Senate Advances Stablecoin Bill, Clearing the Way for Final Passage

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The U.S. Senate voted to move ahead on stablecoin legislation Monday night, removing a procedural barrier to ultimately passing the bill out of the body entirely.

Senators easily cleared the 60-vote threshold for the vote, which is intended to just move the legislation to a period of further debate before a final vote series to pass it out of the Senate. The House of Representatives is working its way through its own version of stablecoin legislation, which is intended to create a regulatory framework for stablecoins and their issuers in the U.S.

The Senate previously failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to advance the bill during a vote on May 8, after Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about consumer protection and national security provisions. That vote had failed on a bipartisan basis, after Republicans Josh Hawley and Rand Paul also voted against cloture.

Despite that earlier setback, industry participants expected easy passage on Monday after lawmakers spent much of the last week negotiating changes in language, though many of these changes seemed marginal.

One individual following the negotiations told CoinDesk that «there’s enough» in the newest version of the bill to address some of Democrats’ concerns earlier on Monday, though the lawmakers negotiating language could have added more hefty consumer protection provisions.

After that latest overhaul, several Democratic lawmakers who previously voted against cloture, including Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Warner, announced they would vote in favor of cloture ahead of the vote.

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StraitsX Launches Its Singapore-Dollar Pegged Stablecoin, XSGD, on XRP Ledger

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Crypto infrastructure provider StraitsX debuted its Singapore dollar-pegged stablecoin, XSGD, on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) to cater to growing demand for regulated multi-chain stablecoins supporting real-time cross-border payments.

Digital asset developers, fintechs firms and financial institutions can use XSGD to conduct cross-border transactions, settle transactions on-chain and create programmable financial flows. XGSD is being powered by XRPL, a decentralized public blockchain from Ripple.

StraitsX, a major payment institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, began issuing XSGD in 2020. The stablecoin pegged to the Singapore dollar is fully backed 1:1 by reserves held with DBS Bank and Standard Chartered.

As of writing, XSGD had a total supply of 14.12 million, with an onchain transaction count exceeding 8 billion. The stablecoin is available on Arbitrum, Avalanche, Ethereum, Polygon, Hedera and Zilliqa.

«At StraitsX, we’ve always approached stablecoins not just as digital representations of fiat, but as critical infrastructure for the future of financial markets. Launching XSGD on the XRP Ledger is a meaningful step toward that vision – an expansion of interoperability, programmability, and access across networks that were purpose-built for real-world value exchange,» Co-Founder and deputy of StaitsX, Liu Tianwei, told CoinDesk.

Regulated stablecoins like XSGD are better positioned to see increased adoption in the expected boom in cross-border economic activity in the coming years. For instance, per some estimates, cross-border e-commerce in Asia is expected to surpass $4 trillion by 2030. Meanwhile, global cross-border payments are projected to hit $250 trillion by 2027, according to a report published by Infosys Finacle last year.

The report mentioned Ripple while discussing various methods fintechs employ for money transfer. The report said that Ripple’s real-time settlement of funds «eliminates the need for pre-funding destination accounts and supports low-cost payments within seconds.»

Opening move

The debut of XSGD on the XRP Ledger marks the beginning of a series of upcoming rollouts outlined under the strategic partnership, the press release said.

In June, StraitsX plans to introduce a second phase focused on institutional applications, including programmable payouts, merchant settlements, and seamless compliance integrations for various financial workflows.

«StraitsX’s launch of XSGD on the XRP Ledger underscores that digital assets, including stablecoins, could play a pivotal role in payments» said Fiona Murray, managing director of APAC at Ripple.

«We are seeing a growing appetite for stablecoins like XSGD to support enterprise-grade use cases across payments, liquidity, and compliance-first infrastructure. Our collaboration with StraitsX to bring XSGD to the XRP Ledger supports our commitment to delivering regulated assets that can reshape cross-border payments and unlock value for financial institutions,» Murray added.

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Senate Dems Gear Up Resistance as Stablecoin Bill Meets Test Most Think Will Succeed

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A key crypto bill has opened a rift among Senate Democrats as another big test approaches for the viability of legislation to regulate stablecoin issuers. Most expect the bill to clear a significant procedural vote on Monday night, but Democrats are split.

The Senate’s most prominent crypto critic, Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren, is leading a faction trying to dig in their heels on the bill, raising objections that include national security threats, consumer hazards and the corruption of a White House that’s conflicted because of President Donald Trump’s own digital assets business interests.

The other group, including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, one of the bill’s primary backers, has argued that presidential conflicts are already illegal under the U.S. Constitution, and the bill doesn’t need to have specific constraints added to clarify that point. That side also praises a number of changes to the legislation to improve consumer protections and to partially address worries that large corporations will issue stablecoins — the steady, typically dollar-based tokens that underpin so much of the crypto markets’ transaction activity.

The bill is set for what’s known as a cloture vote on Monday night, which will decide whether it advances into a formal and time-limited period of debate before final consideration. Cloture tends to be the most difficult test for Senate legislation, because it requires 60 votes — much more than a simple majority. A previous version of the bill failed such a vote once before, when Democrats demanded more time to make changes.

The stablecoin bill is one of two highly significant U.S. legislative efforts that will finally establish a set of rules and system of oversight for crypto in the U.S., and many in the industry believe it’ll usher in a flood of interest from investors who’ve waited on the sidelines until the sector is completely regulated. The supporters of the stablecoin legislation have set it up for this vote, suggesting they were able to wrangle enough backers to triumph.

The current Senate bill — known as the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act — is worse than doing nothing, according to the arguments from the camp led by Warren, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. «A strong bill would ensure that consumers enjoy the same consumer protections when using stablecoins as they do when using other payment systems, close loopholes that enable the illicit use of stablecoins by cartels, terrorists, and criminals, and reduce the risk that stablecoins take down our financial system,» according to a sheet issued on Monday by the committee’s Democratic staff. «The GENIUS Act does not meet those minimum standards.»

Gillibrand, however, said the bill has been written in a «truly bipartisan effort.»

«Stablecoins are already playing an important role in the global economy, and it is essential that the U.S. enact legislation that protects consumers, while also enabling responsible innovations,” the New York Democrat said in a statement last week.

Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, also explained his view in choosing to support the bill. “It sets high standards for issuers, limits big tech overreach and creates a safer, more transparent framework for digital assets,» he said in a statement. «It’s not perfect, but it’s far better than the status quo.”

Read More: U.S. Stablecoin Bill Could Clear Senate Next Week, Proponents Say

In the hours before the planned Monday vote, a coalition of 46 consumer, labor and advocacy groups continued objecting to the legislation, which has been overhauled repeatedly.

«A vote for this legislation would enable and condone cryptobusiness activities by the Trump administration, organization, and family that raise unprecedented concerns about presidential conflicts of interest, corruption, and the abuse of public office for private gain,» they wrote in a letter to the Senate leadership.

The crypto industry itself has come together to support the legislation, with various lobbyist groups publishing statements arguing lawmakers should advance the legislation. Stand With Crypto, a Coinbase-backed group focused on getting voters to support crypto issues, warned lawmakers in a statement Monday that their votes would go into its sometimes arbitrary assignment of grades for politicians’ crypto sentiment.

While the stablecoin bill has drawn some political heat, it’s widely expected to be the easier of the two crypto efforts on Capitol Hill. The legislation to establish U.S. market rules for crypto is much more complex. For both bills, the House of Representatives is also working on parallel efforts.

If the bill clears cloture, it could speed toward Senate passage in a matter of days. Jaret Seiberg, a policy analyst with TD Cowen, expects it to clear the Senate this week

“That means it could become law by summer as we see the House moving quickly on the bill,” he wrote in a note to clients.

Warren wrote her own letter on Monday to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice, pressing for answers about what’s being done about North Korean hackers who stole more than a billion dollars in assets from exchange Bybit earlier this year.

«These stolen assets have helped keep the regime afloat and supported continued investments in its nuclear and conventional weapons programs,» Warren and Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, wrote to the Treasury secretary and attorney general. «Reports suggest there are potentially thousands of North Korean-affiliated crypto hackers around the globe.”

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