11th November 2025 > > The UK is wrong, the institutions are right.
- Mark Timmis
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
tl;dr
Why is the UK always such a let-down, crypto-wise? Institutional investors are showing why the UK has got cryptos all wrong.
Market Snap
Market Wrap
The deal to end the US government shutdown has helped all risk markets, for reasons I cannot quite fathom. Preventing the bureaucrats getting in the way of everyone else’s lives seems like a neat idea to me.
Meanwhile, unemployment in the UK hits a five-year high, the retail and leisure sectors are on their knees, heavy industry is fleeing our shores, but stock markets break new records. How can that be? It is the expectation of QE.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – The UK
The Bank of England, headed by the hapless Andrew Bailey, has issued a consultation paper centred on the use of sterling denominated stablecoins:
The paper starts with this claim:
“The Bank of England’s core mission is to promote the good of the people of the UK by maintaining monetary and financial stability.”
Which is all well and good, but it has been a long time since the Bank of England hierarchy have shown any inclination to address this core mission of theirs. But that’s enough grumbling for now, because there is some stuff in here which shows promise.
“Stablecoins have the potential to make payments faster, cheaper and more efficient and could be used widely for payments in the UK.”
Wow. That’s a very rare example of positive vibes about cryptos from any of the UK’s senior bureaucrats. They find themselves forced into this position as it is a belated recognition that the stablecoin revolution is now unstoppable. It is good to know that there are some realists amongst the technocratic elite.
Let’s see what else we can find of interest.
…
Oh, scratch that. They are not realists at all. They remain crypto haters:
“We propose that issuers implement per-coin holding limits of 20,000 GBP for individuals and 10 million pounds for businesses.”
You see, this happens every time. Someone high up in the UK elite makes positive comments about cryptos but then closes the party down with some ridiculous and nonsensical constraint deliberately designed to prevent any progress.
I told you. Bailey is hapless.
A brief review of the rest of this paper shows some sensible discussion and key questions, particularly on the topic of collateralisation using cash and cash-like instruments. Normally, I would be delighted to get into the nettles of that discussion, but it is pointless whilst the direction of travel is to appear to be welcoming to cryptos but is in fact the exact opposite. The ghost of Rishi Sunak (remember him?) continues to plague all of us who are supporters of freedom and liberty.
Those crypto tax-dollars are just passing us by.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Techies
This means nothing, but sometimes I wish it did.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Sygnum & institutions
Sygnum has released its latest survey of institutions and their collective views towards cryptos:
Mathias Imbach, Sygnum Co-Founder and Group CEO, opens the report with this cheering sentiment:
“An increasing number of institutional investors no longer consider digital assets as peripheral or purely speculative. As they become ever more mainstream and embedded in investment thinking, traditional portfolio designs are being reshaped in real-time. As our Future Finance Report 2025 shows, this shift is accelerating”
The three key takeaways are these:
“Diversification is now the primary reason to invest.
Increased ETF flows if staking is enabled.
Regulatory uncertainty and asset safekeeping remain the main concerns.”
The US shutdown has prevented the approval of a raft of spot ETFs that will incorporate staking. With the end of the shutdown looming, we should still see these new products come to market in 2025. If the survey is accurate, there is a wall of pent-up demand waiting to be unleashed, which will be nice for our bags.
With regards to regulatory uncertainty, the CLARITY Act has stalled partly because of the shutdown. Some progress has been made. There is still a slim chance it makes it to Trump’s desk for signing this side of Christmas.
…
The good news does not stop there:
Institutional adoption of cryptos continues apace.
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