[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang (황치규)] The Bank of England, the UK central bank, has released draft rules for systemic stablecoins and eased reserve requirements. It dropped a proposal for individual and corporate holding limits and instead introduced a temporary issuance cap of 40 billion pounds.

Cointelegraph reported on Sunday that the draft sets out operating standards in the UK for regulated pound-linked stablecoins.

Systemic stablecoins are those widely used for payments and that could pose risks to UK financial stability. The UK Treasury will determine which stablecoins are included. The rules apply only to payment and retail-focused tokens. Non-systemic stablecoins used mainly for cryptocurrency trading will be overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The key changes are rules on reserve management and issuance. Issuers of systemic stablecoins will be allowed to hold up to 70 percent of reserves in interest-bearing government bonds. The previous proposal was 60 percent.

The Bank of England also withdrew holding limits included in a consultation draft in November 2025. That proposal would have capped holdings at 20,000 pounds per person per stablecoin and 10 million pounds per company per stablecoin. It instead proposed a new temporary issuance cap of 40 billion pounds. The Bank of England said it will review the cap regularly and remove it if risks to credit supply are resolved.

The Bank of England aims to finalise the rules by the end of 2026 and to implement them in 2027.