BoE Stablecoin Plan: No Holding Cap, £40B Limit, Gilts at 70%

The Bank of England published draft rules for systemic stablecoins this week, dropping a previously proposed cap on individual holdings. Instead, the central bank set a temporary £40 billion issuance limit per stablecoin during a phased rollout, local reports said.

The consultation runs through Sept. 22. Final rules are due by end-2026, with systemic stablecoin operations expected from 2027.

The BoE also raised the share of backing assets that issuers can hold in short-dated UK government bonds to 70%, up from 60% in earlier proposals. The remainder must sit in non-interest-bearing deposits at the central bank.

Removing personal holding limits addresses a barrier to adoption for retail and corporate users, several analysts said. The £40 billion cap and reserve composition rules together mean systemic stablecoins will be treated less like unregulated crypto instruments and more like payments infrastructure with bank-style safeguards.

Reserve rules imply a two-bucket model for issuers: up to 70% in short-dated gilts for liquidity, with the rest as non-interest-bearing BoE deposits that carry a cost. That structure compresses margins but reinforces central-bank control over systemic issuers.

The long timeline reduces near-term regulatory uncertainty but pushes revenue-generating operations two to three years out.

In parallel, roughly 50 U.S. crypto industry figures plan to meet with senators to urge passage of Bitcoin-related regulatory legislation, a Bitcoin-focused commentator reported on X. The effort reflects the industry's broader push for clearer U.S. rules.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission added 'Aurum/Aurum Foundation' to its list of suspicious virtual asset trading platforms. The SFC alleged the entity claimed Hong Kong registration without a license. The list functions as an investor warning.

On-chain activity showed large transfers and leveraged bets. A team multisig wallet for Ondo moved 150 million ONDO (about $49.6 million) to a new address. The receiving address has accumulated roughly 425 million ONDO (around $147 million) since Apr. 22. Earlier tranches were split and sent to Coinbase, though the purpose of the latest transfer was not confirmed.

Derivatives data showed aggressive positions. One whale opened a 40x leveraged long on 1,100 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at about $70.5 million, with a liquidation price near $61,724. Another whale opened longs totaling roughly $24.34 million across Solana and Ethereum: a 20x long on 225,000 SOL and a 25x long on 4,723 ETH.

Whale Alert tracked 999 BTC (about $64.7 million) moving from Coinbase to an unidentified wallet, a type of outflow sometimes read as reduced sell-side liquidity. In stablecoin flows, roughly 135.49 million USDC moved from an unidentified wallet to Aave, pointing to potential collateral deployment or yield-seeking activity. Intent was not publicly verified.

In South Korea, Bithumb said it will list CC in its KRW market, with trading starting at 2:00 p.m. local time. Upbit announced a KRW-market listing for Arcium (ARX). Both listings broaden domestic retail access.

The day's events underscore a two-speed market: regulators formalizing stablecoin rules and trading structures, while on-chain flows and high-leverage positioning amplify short-term volatility.