Andrew MacKenzie, CEO of sterling stablecoin issuer Agant, said that the UK’s slow rollout of crypto rules risks pushing institutional liquidity and stablecoin issuance toward faster-moving jurisdictions such as the EU and the US. MacKenzie’s core message was that delayed licensing and unresolved stablecoin requirements weaken the UK’s ambition to position itself as a credible digital-asset hub.
His warning is operationally relevant because it ties the UK’s policy pace to concrete planning decisions for issuers, custodians, and VASPs that need regulatory certainty to allocate capital and build compliant distribution. In effect, the UK timetable becomes a gating dependency for product launches, treasury integrations, and institutional onboarding.
The UK Licensing Timeline and the Transitional Reality
The UK is implementing a new crypto licensing regime that will require both existing and new firms to apply for authorisation, which extends the runway for uncertainty across the market. The regime’s structure implies that regulatory status will shift from “registered today” to “re-authorised tomorrow,” and firms must plan for that migration.
According to the reported dates, the application window is scheduled to open on September 30, 2026 and close on February 28, 2027, with the regime due to commence on October 25, 2027. Those milestones create a long lead time in which firms may be operationally active but still lack final clarity on the future compliance perimeter.
A transitional regime is described as allowing currently registered crypto firms to continue providing services while they apply, yet the prolonged timetable still creates an extended period of legal ambiguity for custodians, VASPs, and issuers. The transition helps continuity, but it does not eliminate the strategic friction caused by a long authorization horizon.
MacKenzie argued that this delay is particularly problematic for sterling-denominated stablecoins, which he cited as central to the case for GBPA, because issuers and institutional users need predictable AML, custody, and issuer-regime rules to scale distribution and integrate with treasury operations. His position is that stablecoin growth depends less on branding and more on a stable compliance rulebook that institutions can operationalize.
Stablecoin Strategy, Jurisdictional Choice, and Bank Access
Agant’s planning assumes FCA registration under the Money Laundering Regulations as a prerequisite for the intended launch of GBPA, with industry sources describing that prerequisite as foundational to market confidence. In this framing, FCA MLR registration is not a formality, it is the baseline trust signal that enables institutional adoption.
MacKenzie contrasted the UK’s phased, FCA-led approach with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, which was described in the reporting as a passportable and more immediate regime. The practical implication is that firms evaluating issuance, custody, and trading footprints may treat the EU and US as lower near-term jurisdictional risk than the UK.
He also pointed to a nuanced banking shift, noting blockchain use is increasingly in UK bank C-suite discussions due to efficiencies such as programmable reconciliation and instant settlement, even while many banks remain restrictive on customer access to crypto services. This creates a disconnect where strategic interest is rising but market access remains constrained by conservative banking posture.
From a compliance and controls standpoint, the delayed timetable increases operational risk because it prolongs uncertainty around record retention, beneficial-owner checks, and travel-rule implementation. Compliance teams will need to map today’s controls to the upcoming application requirements, preserve audit trails through the transitional period, and prepare reauthorisation-grade documentation.
The October 25, 2027 commencement date and the September 30, 2026 to February 28, 2027 application window are positioned as key anchors for firms planning launches, capital raises, or cross-border expansion. Institutional desks and treasury teams will ultimately decide whether to wait for the UK’s framework or to deploy resources into jurisdictions offering clearer, near-term operating certainty.
