United Kingdom: House of Lords imposes national strategy on digital assets

France has lost a battle! But France did not lose the war! On Wednesday evening, in Westminster, the Labor government suffered a setback that it did not see coming, or rather that it hoped to avoid. The House of Lords has passed an amendment requiring the British Treasury to publish a real national strategy on cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenized assets. Final score: 194 votes for, 138 against. A clear difference: the alliance of circumstance between conservatives and liberal democrats was enough to win against a Labor bloc which remained almost united.

A strategy on cryptocurrencies imposed despite Labor

The text, soberly called “Digital assets strategy” and referenced Amendment 88, was presented by Baroness Neville-Rolfe during the Report Stage on Wednesday. A former conservative Treasury minister, she attached it to the Financial Services and Markets Bill, which had already been under discussion for several months. Concretely, it requires the Treasury to prepare, publish and submit for consultation a plan covering cryptoassets, stablecoins, tokenized securities and digital financial market infrastructures. Twelve months, not one more, once the text has been promulgated. The countdown does not start today, it starts at royal assent.

The Labor government argued for a more flexible approach, without a binding timetable enshrined in law. According to him, a rigid legal obligation would be difficult to reconcile with the speed at which these markets evolve. Missed. Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers have ruled that regulatory uncertainty has gone on for too long to rely on good intentions, and the UK Parliament's official voting record sets the outcome in black and white. And on this one, they had the majority.

Lords vote on digital assets is just a step, not the finish line

However, the game is far from over. The text must now return to the House of Commons, where MPs will be able to accept it as is, modify it, or simply reject it. Nothing obliges the government to bow a second time: in the Lower House, Labor has a much more comfortable majority than in the Upper House. The amendment will only become a legal requirement if it survives this stage and receives Royal Assent.

The British regulatory calendar, already quite busy, is getting even thicker. The Financial Conduct Authority published its final rules for crypto businesses in early July, with entry into force scheduled for October 2027, while the Bank of England eased its own requirements on stablecoins. A mille-feuille of texts which advances in layers, between the regulator, the central bank and, now, Parliament itself which invites itself into the making of the country's crypto doctrine.