The aim of the consultation is to resolve questions relating to international jurisdiction, applicable law, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, arising from use of electronic trade documents, digital assets and distributed ledger technologies. The consultation paper includes provisional proposals for reform of certain aspects of private international law that apply in this context.

Key points include:

• Jurisdiction: The consultation considers how the existing jurisdictional gateways for property (gateway 9(a)) and tort (gateways 11 and 15(b)) can be applied in the context of crypto litigation. It also notes that the existing gateway for free-standing Norwich Pharmacal and Bankers Trust orders (gateway 25) has not been widely used because claimants are often unable to satisfy the requirement that the information is sought for proceedings commenced or intended to be commenced in England and Wales as they do not know the identity or whereabouts of the perpetrators. There is therefore a proposal to create a new discretionary power of the courts to grant free-standing information orders against third parties in circumstances where it is not yet clear whether substantive proceedings will be initiated in England and Wales.
• Applicable law: The consultation proposes a new "supranational" approach to deal with the "omniterritorial nature" of disputes in relation to digital assets and electronic trade documents. This new approach would no longer require the courts to identify a single applicable law, but to take into account a range of factors to determine a just outcome of the dispute, including the legitimate expectations of the parties.
• Bills of Exchange Act 1882: The consultation also makes proposals for reform of section 72 of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882, which would apply to relevant documents in both paper and electronic form.

Deadline for comments is 8 September 2025.

The Law Commission plans to publish final recommendations in 2026.

The rules will cover, amongst other things, the FCA’s requirements relating to regulatory capital, liquidity and concentration risk. 

The FCA is inviting feedback on its proposals until 31 July 2025. 

See our article UK: FCA consults on a prudential regime for cryptoasset firms.

The draft rules will include amendments to the FCA Handbook (e.g. new chapters 16 and 17 in the Client Assets sourcebook (CASS), and a new Cryptoasset sourcebook (CRYPTO)).  

The FCA is inviting feedback on its proposals until 31 July 2025.

See our article UK: FCA consults on stablecoin issuance and cryptoasset custody rules.

The data request will inform work across the PRA and the Bank of England on cryptoassets by helping them to:

• calibrate the prudential treatment of cryptoasset exposures;
• analyse the relative costs and benefits of different policy options;  and 
• provide an updated view of firms' current and intended cryptoasset-related business activities as a base from which to monitor the financial stability implications of these assets.

Firms have been asked to complete the information request at the highest-level of UK consolidation to the extent that it is relevant to their business, exposures or activities.

The deadline to submit the completed questionnaire is 24 March 2025.

In CP24/9: Financial Crime Guide updates the FCA consulted on proposed changes to the Guide relating to:

• sanctions
• proliferation financing
• transaction monitoring

It also proposed adding references to cryptoassets and the Consumer Duty, along with consequential changes such as data security and updating case studies.

Policy statement PS24/17 is relevant to:  

• all FCA financial crime supervised firms
• firms that the FCA supervises under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs), including cryptoasset businesses

The Guide will also be of interest to:  

• individuals and organisations working with firms subject to FCA financial crime and MLRs supervision
• financial services sector trade associations
• any other parties interested in FCA financial crime supervision; this could include non-governmental organisations working on financial crime prevention or academics.

According to the latest research, 12% of UK adults now own cryptoassets, up from 10% in previous findings. Awareness of cryptoassets also rose from 91% to 93%, while the average value of cryptoassets held by people increased from £1,595 to £1,842. 

The FCA also published:

• An indicative roadmap of key dates for the development and introduction of the UK’s crypto regime. This roadmap outlines planned FCA policy publications for cryptoassets where it is seeking feedback and the content they are expected to cover. 
• A blog by Matthew Long, director of payments and digital assets: 'Developing our approach to crypto regulation'.

See also our article FCA publishes plans for developing cryptoasset rules in the UK.

The Legal aspects of retail CBDCs paper examines some key legal questions that may need to be addressed by any jurisdiction considering issuing a retail CBDC but does not attempt to provide definitive answers to those questions. It focuses on four areas: the legal classification of retail CBDC; the obligations and liabilities of participants in the retail CBDC ecosystem; privacy and financial crime; and cross-border issues. 

The CBDCs: System design paper provides some perspectives on overall system design and then focuses on four key issues for designing a well-functioning retail CBDC system: privacy, cybersecurity (including quantum computing), offline functionality; and point of sale considerations.