The UK financial regulator has chosen four companies to lead its testing of stablecoin payments, among other things, as the digital asset sector continues to question its progression.
Revolut has been selected as one of four companies to test stablecoin payments in the Financial Conduct Authority‘s (FCA) digital sandbox.
Announced on 25 February, the FCA confirmed Revolut, Monee Financial Technologies, ReStabilise and VVTX, had been selected from 20 applicants to trial stablecoin products in real-world conditions; testing will begin in Q1 2026.
“We are supporting UK stablecoin issuers to ensure they can be trusted for payments, settlement and trading” said Matthew Long, Director of Payments and Digital Assets at the FCA.
“It will benefit consumers and financial transactions and help to deliver the FCA’s strategy and the Government’s National Payments Vision.”
Some of the use cases the UK financial watchdog will be testing revolve around stablecoin payments, wholesale settlement, and crypto trading. The results will help the FCA formulate its crypto regulatory framework that is set to launch in October 2027.
The FCA said it will provide safeguard guidelines for the companies to follow and must provide secure data from within the digital sandbox. An FCA case officer is typically deployed for activities in the sandbox, monitoring progress and requesting regular updates.
The live environment tests for stablecoin usage are intended to be used to ensure “future rules are clear, effective and support responsible innovation”, said the FCA in its announcement.
UK’s future stablecoin regulations
While the sandbox testing ground will help the FCA create guidelines for stablecoin issuers in the UK, the regulator has already outlined proposals ahead of its regulatory market launch in October 2027.
These proposals dictate that stablecoin issuers will be required to register with the FCA and ensure their assets are 1:1 backed with reserves.
As crypto regulations in the UK will fall under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), issuers will also be required to check if their “qualifying stablecoins” meet certain standards.
The Bank of England published a consultation in November 2025, proposing a temporary limit of £20,000 per person per sterling-denominated stablecoin and a £10m cap for each business.
These proposals drew criticism from different associations and professors, including Simon Gleeson, who initially labelled the stablecoin caps as “bonkers”. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is now the latest to raise questions over the Bank of England’s proposals.
He posted via his X account a petition created by Stand With Crypto in the UK calling on the government to accelerate its plans to release a strategy for a “pro-innovation stablecoin & tokenisation regulatory regime”.
“The UK has a long history of being a financial hub. Embracing and encouraging innovation, especially when other countries are moving fast here, is important for maintaining that,” said Armstrong
“The current direction of the rules does the opposite, and will act as an innovation blocker.”
The UK’s crypto sector has often been maligned for its stagnating development of its rules and regulations in order to attract capital and foster innovation.
The FCA’s marketing and promotion rules designed for cryptoasset companies has also been criticised by the likes of Kraken executives, while also removing Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange in daily trading volume, for non-compliance.
