The UK Treasury has proposed legislation to regulate cryptocurrency companies.
The consultation paper was published on May 31st in the wake of the Terra LUNA crypto and UST stablecoin collapse, which sent the entire sector into a downward spiral.
The paper highlighted the importance of stablecoins in innovation but also their impact upon wider financial stability, should systemic failures occur.
It called for amendments to existing legislation around the Financial Market Infrastructure Special Administration Regime (FMI SAR), which was established to address the risks posed by the systemic failure of payment systems.
The new rules as proposed would give the Bank of England with oversight over cryptocurrency firms, with the power to appoint an administrator in the event of a failure.
In addition to the mandate to ensure continuity of services for firms that reach insolvency, the paper said, amendments would include an additional objective to ensure the return or transfer of customer funds and custody assets.
“Continuity of service may not be sufficient to mitigate risks to financial stability arising from the failure of a systemic DSA (digital settlement asset) firm, particularly where large numbers of individuals may lose access to funds and assets they have chosen to hold as DSAs,” the paper said.
A DSA could include stablecoin issuers, wallet providers and third-party payment providers.
“The government considers that it is important to ensure existing legal frameworks can be effectively applied to manage the risks posed by the possible failure of systemic DSA firms for the purposes of financial stability,” it also read.
The consultation period ends on August 2nd and will be put before Parliament at a later date.