Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)

On the question of what can be described as the wrinkle, I hope that, if there is any slight issue with all of this, we will try to work it out in regulation; however, the FCA is looking at it, and that might be the way to do it. Obviously, as I said earlier, if something needs to be changed, we have the right to bring it back to Parliament and have another go, basically; that may include further legislation. On double regulation, in terms of the Government’s view of the Bank of England’s consultation on systemic stablecoin, the Government recognise that facilitating stablecoin innovation is important for UK competitiveness. The Treasury and the Bank of England are maintaining close, ongoing dialogue on the legal and regulatory treatment of stablecoin in support of the Government’s objective to make the UK a global destination for digital assets. The main point is that we want this sector and these regulations to do several things: grow the economy; be flexible enough to change when they need to change; and look after the consumer. We are building on regulation that may have been there, as far as the consumer is concerned—on money laundering, for example—and we will go in that direction, but we will work very closely with the industry so that we have something that is suitable for both the consumer and the industry. This is a sector that we would like to see thrive; as I said, you cannot disinvent it, so we need to make it work for us.