US and UK issue joint stablecoin statement in 2-nation regulatory push

The US and UK agreed to coordinate stablecoin oversight in a joint push to set global standards for the $33 trillion market.

The US and UK issued a joint statement on stablecoin regulation, agreeing to coordinate oversight frameworks across the two largest dollar-denominated crypto markets.

"International coordination is essential to ensure stablecoin markets operate safely and consistently across jurisdictions," the US Treasury and UK Treasury said in a joint release.

The agreement comes as stablecoins processed $33 trillion in transaction volume in 2025, topping the combined $25.5 trillion handled by Visa and Mastercard, according to a State of Stablecoins report from Morph. The coordinated approach aims to reduce regulatory fragmentation between the two financial hubs, which together account for the majority of global stablecoin issuance.

The joint statement could accelerate compliance standards for issuers such as Circle's USDC, which already operates under US state trust licenses and is expanding through BNY's Digital Asset Custody platform. The next milestone is the implementation timeline, with both governments expected to release detailed rule proposals later this year.

A Coordinated Push for Global Standards

The US-UK agreement follows a month of rapid institutional moves into stablecoins. A consortium of more than 140 companies including Visa, Mastercard, BNY, BlackRock and Google launched Open Standard, an independent company that will issue a dollar-pegged stablecoin called Open USD. BNY expanded its relationship with Circle to make USDC the first stablecoin supported on its Digital Asset Custody platform, allowing institutional clients to mint and redeem digital dollars through a single regulated banking relationship. Japan's three largest banking groups — MUFG, SMBC and Mizuho — committed to jointly issue a stablecoin under a trust structure with regulatory backing from the Financial Services Agency.

What the Statement Covers

The joint statement addresses issuer oversight, reserve requirements and cross-border compliance standards, according to people familiar with the matter. The two governments agreed to share supervisory information and align on minimum reserve and disclosure rules for stablecoin issuers operating in both jurisdictions. The approach mirrors elements of the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, which took full effect in December 2024 and established a comprehensive licensing regime for stablecoin issuers across 27 member states.

For compliant issuers like Circle, the coordinated framework reduces the risk of conflicting rules between the US and UK. For projects operating outside regulated channels, the statement points to tighter scrutiny ahead. The open question is whether the shared governance model adopted by the Open Standard consortium — where earnings on reserves are returned to partners rather than retained by a single issuer — becomes the template for bank-backed stablecoins under the new regime.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.