Key facts
- US and UK regulators held their 13th Financial Regulatory Working Group meeting in London on July 8, 2026.
- US officials briefed UK counterparts on the implementation of the GENIUS Act, a US federal law governing payment stablecoins.
- The GENIUS Act requires 1:1 backing with high-quality liquid assets, segregation of reserves, and timely redemptions.
- US regulators missed the July 18, 2026, deadline for finalizing rules related to the GENIUS Act, with full effectiveness now targeted for early 2027.
- The UK shared progress on its Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy and advanced its systemic stablecoin framework with a £40 billion per-issuer cap.
- Both nations signaled a shared commitment to responsible innovation and financial stability in digital assets and tokenization.
United States and United Kingdom financial regulators reaffirmed their commitment to close cooperation on digital assets during their 13th Financial Regulatory Working Group (FRWG) meeting in London on July 8, 2026. US officials briefed UK counterparts on the ongoing rollout of the GENIUS Act, the first comprehensive federal law governing payment stablecoins in the US, signed into law by President Trump in July 2025. The meeting also covered digital asset market structure, tokenization priorities, and the G20 Cross-Border Payments Roadmap.
While no new binding rules were announced, both sides signaled a shared commitment to responsible innovation alongside financial stability. BlackRock launched two tokenized money market funds targeting GENIUS Act reserve eligibility just one day before the joint statement was published, indicating Wall Street's proactive engagement. The GENIUS Act mandates 1:1 backing with high-quality liquid assets, segregation of reserves, and timely redemptions, alongside compliance with Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering rules. Implementation is ongoing, with US regulators missing the statutory one-year window for finalizing rules, now targeted for early 2027.
The UK shared progress on its Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy and announced Christopher Woolard CBE as the new Wholesale Digital Markets Champion. The Bank of England has also advanced its systemic stablecoin framework, replacing earlier holding limits with a temporary £40 billion per-issuer issuance cap and adjusting reserve composition rules. The alignment of US and UK stablecoin reserve standards is becoming a key reference point globally, alongside the EU’s MiCA framework.
The FRWG talks build on earlier groundwork, including the July 14 Transatlantic Taskforce joint statement that outlined a shared model for stablecoins centered on full reserve backing, redemption rights, and AML compliance. This transatlantic consistency reduces fragmentation risk between the two financial centers and strengthens the case for GENIUS Act stablecoin compliance, offering regulated issuers a competitive advantage in cross-border payments and institutional settlement. Tokenization was also flagged as a shared priority. One year since signing, the stablecoin market cap has hit a record $323 billion, and tokenized real-world assets have grown past $28.9 billion.