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The UK and the US have established the “Task Force for the Future of Markets” to explore cooperation on capital markets and digital asset regulation in a move designed to stimulate the UK financial services industry.
British Prime Minister Rachel Reeves and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent agreed to set up an official group after holding talks on Downing Street last week before President Donald Trump visited the UK.
Monday’s Task Force announcement brought scarce details about which areas of the capital market, the digital assets it will focus on, and what potential collaboration will look like.
The move comes as the UK is trying to stimulate capital markets after several companies switch listings from London to New York and are tempted to a higher rating.
It also comes when the US embraces the cryptocurrency industry under Trump. Since returning to the White House in January, the president has appointed a crypto-friendly regulator, dismissed lawsuits against major companies in the sector, and passed a landmark law that oversees stubcoin.
In contrast, the UK has been accused of limping into regulations by crypto executives, leaving behind US and other rival financial centres.
The UK Treasury said the “Trans-Atlantic Task Force for Future Markets” will consider short- and medium-term collaboration options on digital assets while legislation and regulatory regimes are developing.
The group will also focus on “reducing the burden of UK and US companies to raise capital cross-border,” the UK Treasury Department said.
The task force, chaired by UK and US Treasury officials, will report within 180 days of recommendation. This includes regulators from both sides of the Atlantic, responsible for capital markets and digital asset regulation.
Last month, former Conservative Prime Minister George Osborne launched a withering attack on the Labour Government’s approach to Crypto, warning that Britain risks becoming irrelevant in a revolution “reminiscent of the 1980s Nigel Lawson’s Big Bang.”
Osborne, who is currently on the US Crypto Exchange Coinbase’s Global Advisory Committee, said Reeves and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey have left the UK in Slow Lane.
UK’s CryptoAsset Business Council, a trade group, said the task force announcement marked “a clear vote of trust from the US in the UK economy.”
“If we understand this correctly, it could disrupt the city of London and the transatlantic economy,” he added.
