Key Takeaways:
The U.S. and U.K. released a 10-point roadmap to reduce regulatory friction for tokenized assets across the world's two largest financial markets.
The United States and the United Kingdom released a 10-point roadmap Tuesday to coordinate oversight of tokenized assets and stablecoins, signaling both governments want blockchain-based finance to become a bigger part of mainstream capital markets.
"The recommendations reflect the strength of the U.S. and U.K. financial markets and our shared commitment to supporting economic growth, innovation and competition," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
Released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and HM Treasury, the report from the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future proposes creating an industry-led working group to test cross-border tokenization projects, coordinate regulation of tokenized securities and support cross-border stablecoin development. The two governments also issued a joint statement backing cross-border stablecoin activity, saying the private sector will play a central role in developing digital money and payment systems.
The recommendations do not introduce new rules. Instead, they identify areas where regulators — including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England — plan to work more closely together. That includes exploring common approaches to settling tokenized securities and whether stablecoins or tokenized money market funds could be used as collateral in financial markets.
Regulatory Coordination Across the Atlantic
On the digital asset side, the governments propose reviewing global banking standards for cryptoassets and building policy frameworks that allow stablecoins, tokenized bank deposits and other forms of digital money to coexist. The SEC and FCA will explore ways to make cross-border capital raising easier, while regulators will also review derivatives market supervision, market data transparency and international accounting standards.
The UK has been moving in parallel on its domestic stablecoin regime. The Bank of England published a policy statement and draft rules for sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins on July 13, setting a 70/30 backing asset composition — 70% in short-term UK government debt and 30% in unremunerated BoE deposits — and replacing proposed per-coin holding limits with a temporary issuance guardrail capped at 40 billion pounds. The regime is targeting a 2027 go-live date.
HM Treasury's Wholesale Digital Markets Champion, Chris Woolard, also published a report on July 13 establishing a 54-firm cross-industry tokenization task force backed by the City of London Corporation, with BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS among the named members. The initiative targets as much as 33 billion pounds in annual economic output and 14 billion pounds in annual tax revenue by 2035.
What's at Stake for Tokenized Markets
The coordinated push comes as the tokenized real-world asset market is projected by Boston Consulting Group to reach $88 trillion by 2035. The U.S.-UK alignment reduces regulatory uncertainty for institutions seeking to deploy tokenized products across both jurisdictions, potentially accelerating capital flows into tokenized securities, stablecoins and digital asset infrastructure.
The taskforce's next milestone is a comprehensive second report due July 2027, with workstream assignments targeted for September 2026. Public feedback on the UK's stablecoin rules is open until Sept. 22, 2026.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
