On 15 December 2025, the UK government laid before Parliament the draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2025. This landmark legislation, together with the FCA's messaging, signals a major...more
1/19/2026
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Money Laundering ,
New Regulations ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
On 14 January 2026, the Hogan Lovells Digital Assets and Blockchain practice hosted a half‑day roundtable event for clients to discuss the FCA's trio of consultation papers: Consultation Paper 25/40 on Regulating Cryptoasset...more
1/19/2026
/ Consultation Papers ,
Cryptoassets ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Investment ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
On 16 December 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published Consultation Paper 25/42 on a prudential regime for cryptoasset firms (the “Consultation Paper”). This paper is one of three consultation papers released...more
12/19/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Capital Requirements ,
Consultation Papers ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
New Regulations ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
UK
On 16 December 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published Consultation Paper 25/40 on Regulating Cryptoasset Activity (the “Consultation Paper”). This paper is one of three consultation papers released by the FCA...more
The Consultation Paper sets out the FCA’s proposed rules and guidance for admissions and disclosures (A&D) and the market abuse regime for cryptoassets (MARC)....more
12/18/2025
/ Consultation Papers ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Listing Rules ,
Market Abuse ,
Proposed Rules ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
On 15 December 2025, the Statutory Instrument on Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulation 2025 (“SI”) was laid before Parliament. This publication has been eagerly anticipated after strong industry...more
12/17/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
On 27 November 2025, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU announced that they have reached a provisional political agreement on the texts of the proposed Directive on payment services and electronic money...more
Introduction -
The Second Payments Services Directive ((EU) 2015/2366) (“PSD2”) provided payment service users with access to their payment data by mandating that payment service providers grant “read” and (limited)...more
10/21/2025
/ Banks ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Crowdfunding ,
Data Privacy ,
Data-Sharing ,
EU ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
New Legislation ,
Open Banking ,
Payment Systems ,
PSD2 ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
UK
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a consultation paper (CP) setting out its plans to progress the tokenisation of funds – that is, the digital representation of interests in investment funds, using...more
10/20/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Fund Managers ,
Investment Funds ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Tokenization ,
UK
1. Introduction -
Given the sea change of PSD2, one might expect the prospect of the proposed PSD3 and PSR to have PSPs groaning at the thought of yet more root and branch reg change projects. However, whilst the proposals...more
9/5/2025
/ Banks ,
E-Money ,
EU ,
European Council ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinTech ,
New Regulations ,
Payment Systems ,
Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements
The EBA has set out its opinion on the interplay between MiCA and PSD2 in relation to crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) that transact with electronic money tokens (i.e. a category of stablecoins under MiCA). The EBA...more
Numerous jurisdictions across the globe are developing their own cryptoasset regulatory frameworks—the UK is no exception. Cryptoasset businesses overseas looking to enter the UK market, or to offer services to customers in...more
On 8 April 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published their Annual Work Programme, detailing what the FCA intends to deliver in 2025/26—read on for our views on what this means for the digital assets space....more
4/9/2025
/ Asset Management ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
FinTech ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities Regulation ,
UK
Given the swathe of announcements from the UK regarding reforms to become more competitive, promote growth and drive down the cost of business, the Hogan Lovells Digital Assets and Blockchain Practice has looked at how we can...more
What has happened: On 21 January 2025, the European Commission sent a letter to the Chair of the Joint Committee of the ESAs with its decision to reject the draft Regulatory Technical Standards (“RTS”) on subcontracting...more
What is happening Many of the largest blockchain networks today are subject to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, such as Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, which are reliant on users participating in the activity of...more
Digitalisation and the application of key technologies, such as distributed ledger technology (DLT), are reshaping the landscape of global finance. In this report, TheCityUK has collaborated with Hogan Lovells to consider the...more
1/23/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Capital Markets ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
Innovation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
UK
In our previous Comparative Guide, we explored innovations in private forms of digital money and money-like instruments available to retail customers, including fiatreferencing stablecoins, e-money and tokenised deposits. As...more
On 9 January 2025, the widely anticipated Statutory Instrument exempting cryptoasset staking from the meaning of “collective investment schemes” as defined under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000) was...more
1/13/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Collective Investment Schemes ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK
On 16 December 2024, the FCA published a discussion paper (DP24/4) (the “Discussion Paper”) on admissions and disclosures and market abuse regimes for cryptoassets. This is part of a series of publications by the FCA (and the...more
This articles provides some insights on the direction of travel in the UK in relation to distributed ledger technology (DLT) and digital assets, in light of recent legislative and policy developments that signal the UK’s...more
On 26 November 2024, the FCA published a number of communications relating to its approach to developing the future cryptoassets regime for the UK, including a roadmap for the development and introduction of the UK’s...more
The FCA has published its expectations on registered or regulated firms partnering with unregistered cryptoasset firms, which may be illegally promoting to UK consumers....more
This articles provides some insights on the direction of travel in the UK in relation to distributed ledger technology (DLT) and digital assets, in light of recent legislative and policy developments that signal the UK’s...more
Given the sea change of payment services directive 2015/2366 (“PSD2”), one might expect the prospect of the proposed PSD3 and PSR to have psps groaning at the thought of yet more root and branch reg change projects. However,...more