The Bank of England (BoE), Britain’s central bank, is taking another look at holding limits and reserve rules it planned to apply to pound stablecoins.

Cointelegraph reported on Wednesday that the BoE is considering easing parts of its existing proposals after the industry raised concerns about hampering adoption and hurting profitability.

Two issues are central. The BoE is reassessing whether to keep a plan to temporarily cap how much stablecoin individuals and companies can hold. It is also reconsidering whether a requirement to keep at least 40 percent of reserve assets as non-interest-bearing deposits at the BoE is overly conservative.

In a consultation paper released in November 2025, the BoE set out a proposed regulatory framework for “systemic sterling-denominated stablecoins.” The plan elaborated on options presented in a 2023 discussion paper. Under the earlier proposal, individuals could hold up to 20,000 pounds of certain British stablecoins, and businesses could hold up to $13.5 million during an initial transition period.

But the industry pushed back, saying the rules were unrealistic. Relevant groups and would-be issuers said holding limits would be difficult to supervise across platforms and would create a heavy operational burden. They also argued the rules could curb institutional demand for regulated British stablecoins in areas such as corporate treasury management, payroll and payment settlement.

There was also significant resistance to the reserve rules. The BoE has backed strict liquidity requirements, saying stablecoins should be made as safe and robust as existing payment infrastructure. Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden (브리든) warned in November 2025 that easing regulation too much could undermine financial stability. At the time, the BoE proposed placing a substantial share of reserve assets at the central bank and holding the rest in highly liquid assets such as British government bonds.

Law firms and potential issuers countered that such a structure would sharply reduce profitability. Some also argued it could be more attractive to operate under U.S. or European Union (EU) regimes than to issue stablecoins under the British system.

The debate is also linked to the very small share of pound-linked tokens in the global stablecoin market, currently valued at about $300 billion. The market is still dominated by dollar-based issuers.

The shift in stance comes as the British government and regulators aim to become a digital asset hub while also managing risks to bank funding and financial system stability. Britain’s parliament also launched an inquiry in January to review oversight plans for fiat-backed tokens. It gathered views from industry participants including Coinbase and Innovate Finance.

The BoE and the Treasury continue to refine a stablecoin framework that can run in parallel with a broader crypto regulatory system and plans for a digital pound. If holding limits and reserve rules become more flexible, the next question will be whether pound-based systemic stablecoins can compete with dollar-pegged tokens in cross-border payments and Britain’s domestic crypto market. If adjustments are limited, some have raised the possibility that related activity will remain concentrated in more regulation-friendly jurisdictions.