Circle has been conducting several “state visits” to the United Kingdom for the past year, looking at how to expand its business there, Bloomberg wrote Friday (April 8).
The payment and financial infrastructure company, which makes the USDC stablecoin, has held virtual and in-person meetings with government, regulators and industry bodies.
There was a trip to London last month, and another one during the relaxed travel period between the Delta and omicron waves of COVID-19 last year.
According to the report, Dante Disparte, Circle’s chief strategy officer, said recently that the company wanted to take advantage of the shift in attitudes towards crypto and payments innovation that stablecoins have brought about.
The trips were taken as U.K. regulation has been increasingly risk-averse against crypto companies trying to work in the country.
The last Circle delegation took place just before the U.K. said it wanted to have more legislation on stablecoins.
PYMNTS wrote that in the U.S., there is a bill in the House and Senate that will set quality standards for the cash reserves backing a lot of stablecoins, requiring full public disclosure of assets.
See also: As Bill Requiring 100% Cash Reserves for Stablecoins Debuts, USDC Picks BNY Mellon as Custodian
The Stablecoin Transparency Act comes as congressional and regulatory eyes focus more on the real stability of stablecoins.
Stablecoins have primarily been used to facilitate trading crypto, but they’re becoming more common as a payments tool. This has led to concerns of a run caused by a loss of confidence in the funds backstopping the $180 billion industry, which would threaten wider loss of financial stability.
The bill would make it so issuers have to back stablecoins with U.S. dollars or government securities with maturities of less than a year, and force issuers to release public, third-party audits.
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