The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has opened applications for its March 2026 Stablecoin Sprint, a multi‑stakeholder innovation event designed to shape the country’s emerging regulatory regime for stablecoin payments.
The initiative marks one of the FCA’s most visible steps toward finalising a bespoke rulebook for UK‑issued stablecoins, expected by mid‑2026.
The two‑day sprint will convene fintechs, banks, payment institutions, stablecoin issuers, technology providers, corporates, and consumer groups to co‑design standards and policy approaches across key payment use cases, including retail transactions, cross‑border transfers, e‑commerce, B2B payments, and remittances. A follow‑on trade payments roundtable in May will focus on B2B and trade‑finance flows, both domestic and international.
The FCA says the sprint will feed directly into its work to build a regulatory framework that enables “faster, cheaper and trusted payments” while maintaining consumer and market protections.
The event follows a series of 2025 consultations covering issuance, safeguarding, prudential requirements, application of the FCA Handbook, and disclosure rules for qualifying stablecoins (CP25/14, CP25/15, CP25/25, CP25/41). Insights from the FCA’s stablecoin cohort in the Regulatory Sandbox will also inform the final rulemaking.
Applications for the sprint are open until midnight on 4 February 2026, with participants notified by 13 February.
For more information, visit the FCA’s dedicated website.
Read our deep dive into banks’ stablecoin activity from the latest issue of Capital Pioneer here.
