Labour conference is back in Liverpool. Last year Bitcoin Policy UK turned up with orange umbrellas and a stand in the main exhibition hall. We: - Put Bitcoin on the conference floor - Spoke to the FCA - Put Bitcoin books into politicians’ hands* - Took mining into the energy debate - Asked Peter Kyle about the UK's bitcoin - Spoke to MPs about UK Bitcoin policy A year later, Bitcoin is being used on stage as a political punchline. We’ll keep making sure the people writing the rules understand Bitcoin. This was a huge team effort. Thank you to everyone who made it what it was. * Lawrence Lepard's The Big Print and Jason Maier’s A Progressive’s Case for Bitcoin . Thank you both. H/t Russell Rukin for the umbrellas, booth and beautiful leaflets, Alex Glasse for filming and getting our very own “distracted boyfriend” moment and The Bitcoin IFA for spotting us on the news.

Bitcoin Policy UK has ended its consolidation phase and is moving into its next stage with a clearer structure and renewed focus. @Susie Violet Ward Violet Ward has resumed the role of CEO, with Cristina Llamas leading operations as COO. Even while operating at reduced capacity, the work continued. During consolidation BPUK: - responded to FCA Consultation Paper CP25/40 on cryptoasset regulation - sent its 2026 Manifesto to all 650 MPs - responded to the Government’s Digital ID consultation - published research on the structural risks of Bitcoin treasury companies - published and updated the BPUK Privacy Toolkit - responded to HMRC on stablecoin taxation - submitted evidence on banking access - responded to HMRC on cryptoasset lending - responded to the Bank of England on systemic stablecoins Susie said, “Bitcoin has no CEO, no head office and no central body speaking for it. Bitcoin does not need permission. Our job is to make sure policymakers understand how it works and where rules built around issuers and intermediaries do not fit.” BPUK remains a small, independent team run by volunteers with limited resources, but consolidation is over and we are excited about what comes next. https://bitcoinpolicy.uk/blog-1/f/bpuk-ends-consolidation-and-enters-next-phase

How much influence should the Bank of England have over privately issued money? Bitcoin Policy UK has submitted its response to the Bank’s draft Code of Practice for systemic sterling stablecoins. We’ve asked the Bank to look closely at: * the combined cost of the rules * the 30% Bank of England deposit requirement * up to 95% of backing assets in government debt for some issuers * how much personal data is collected during redemption * how dependent issuers become on Bank of England Good regulation should reduce risk without closing the door to competition. Read the full article and our submission: https://bitcoinpolicy.uk/blog-1/f/our-ask-to-boe-on-stablecoins-regulate-the-risk-not-the-model @Susie Violet Ward

The UK now chairs FATF (Financial Action Task Force, the body setting global anti-money laundering standards), with fraud as its two-year priority.  The plan means more data sharing across exchanges, banks and telecoms.  On Bitcoin's public ledger that's not the same trade-off as with hidden bank records: link an identity to an address once and it can be traced for good.  Self-custody helps, but it isn't a full shield once KYC has already tagged a wallet. Read the full article: https://bitcoinpolicy.uk/blog-1/f/fatf’s-fraud-roadmap-expands-data-risks-and-global-surveillance @Susie Violet Ward