영란은행, 파운드화 스테이블코인 감독 비전 제시

When the Bank of England publishes a consultation paper introduced by Governor Andrew Bailey, the financial services industry pays attention. The November 2025 paper on systemic sterling-denominated stablecoins is no exception. It sets out the central bank's most detailed vision yet for how digital payment tokens should be regulated in the UK.

Stablecoins as payment infrastructure

The core premise of the Bank of England's proposal is clear: stablecoins used widely for everyday payments can pose risks to UK financial stability, and therefore require regulation proportionate to those risks. This is not a theoretical concern. Global stablecoin transaction volume surpassed $33 trillion in 2025, and the Bank of England is positioning itself to manage systemic effects before they materialize rather than after.

What sets this proposal apart from earlier regulatory approaches is its focus on the "systemic" threshold. Non-systemic stablecoins, those not yet widely adopted for payments, remain under the sole supervision of the FCA. Once a stablecoin crosses into systemic territory, however, it enters a dual regulatory regime overseen by both the Bank of England and the FCA.

Reserve asset requirements

The most significant aspect of the proposal concerns how stablecoin issuers must back their tokens. The Bank of England proposes that systemic issuers hold a portion of their reserves in short-term UK government bonds and maintain a deposit account with the Bank of England itself. This is a notable step, as it effectively brings stablecoin issuers within the same financial infrastructure that underpins the traditional banking system.

This carries important implications for users, as it addresses the fundamental question the stablecoin market has faced since its inception: when you hold a stablecoin, can you actually redeem it for fiat currency at face value? The Bank of England's answer is to require exactly that. "Stability of nominal value