UK Needs Stablecoins To Keep Pace With US Dollar and Euro — Fintech Exec

The United Kingdom needs to regulate and encourage the development of British pound stablecoins to keep the country’s financial services sector globally competitive, according to Mark Fairless, the group CEO of bank infrastructure and fintech company ClearBank.

“Stablecoins are a logical extension to reduce friction in international global payments,” Fairless told Cointelegraph in an interview at Web Summit 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal.  

He said that pound stablecoins will never equal the market capitalization of dollar or euro-denominated tokens because it isn’t a global reserve currency. 

However, the UK needs a British pound stablecoin to remain commercially competitive as the world shifts to onchain finance and internet capital markets, Fairless said. He told Cointelegraph:

“From a capability perspective for the UK, the ability to settle payments internationally in real time requires a GBP stablecoin, and if we don’t have one, we risk falling behind other financial sectors.

“The financial services market in the UK is one of our strongest parts of the economy, and so, stablecoins are a logical place to go next,” he said, adding that the effect of stablecoins on the banking sector and traditional business models remains to be seen.

Stablecoins have become geostrategically relevant as governments respond to growing pressure to place their fiat currencies onchain to remain competitive with countries that integrate digital and blockchain rails into their economies.