Britain's House of Lords passed an amendment to legislation requiring the government to establish a comprehensive digital asset strategy. It is a move to make a national strategy a legal obligation, covering cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenised securities.

On Sept. 10 (local time), Cointelegraph and the UK Parliament said the House of Lords passed the amendment 194 to 138 during the report stage of the Financial Services and Markets Bill. The Labour government opposed the amendment.

The amendment, proposed by Conservative Lucy Neville-Rolfe (루시 네빌 롤프), would require the Treasury to develop and publish the UK's digital asset regulation and development strategy within 12 months after the bill becomes law and to seek public input. The strategy would cover digital and tokenised financial assets, including cryptocurrencies, qualifying stablecoins and tokenised securities, as well as related financial market infrastructure. It would also consider firms' access to banking, payment and clearing services, innovation and competition, consumer protection and market integrity.

The government says there is no need to create a separate statutory strategy. UK Treasury minister Stockwood (스톡우드) said in earlier parliamentary discussions, "The government is already pursuing a wholesale financial markets digital strategy, tokenisation policy and a digital securities sandbox," adding, "A comprehensive work programme is under way." The UK government released a "wholesale financial markets digital strategy" last year and is also working on industry cooperation and expanding tokenisation.

Supporters of the amendment argue that existing policies are scattered across individual areas and that an integrated strategy is needed to see regulatory direction and responsible bodies at a glance. Neville-Rolfe said, "Digital asset policy is fragmented by products and regulators," and stressed, "A clear national strategy is needed."

The amendment has not been finalised as law. The House of Lords is scheduled to hold a third reading of the bill on Sept. 15, after which the bill returns to the House of Commons. The House of Commons can accept, change or reject amendments added by the Lords, so whether a digital asset strategy will be mandated is expected to be decided in subsequent legislative procedures.