The two financial superpowers have agreed to a groundbreaking deal that will rewrite Bitcoin and crypto market investments over the next six months.
The UK and US task force, with a 180-day deadline, aims to line up Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency product listings, custody and disclosures in two markets.
Announced during a state visit and co-chaired by the Treasury Department with regulators, the initiative is surrounded to remove cross-border frictions between capital markets and digital assets, where recommendations are expected around March 2026.
This range includes cooperation in the wholesale digital market and a schedule to report within six months. This timing coincides with the fresh US exchange framework that can shorten the market to around 75 days and open product pipelines beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, under general standards for spot products and crypto exchange trade products from the NYSE, NASDAQ and CBOE lists.
Policy Sequences create executable playbooks
The US generic list standard sets repeatable eligibility, surveillance sharing, and disclosure patterns. The task force can map these patterns to London’s cross-linking pathways that recognize the outcome, rather than replicating the process.
Due to changes to US rules, the interval between filing and initial transaction reduces the interval to a fixed window. This is one of the main gating items for new single asset and basket products.
If London accepts the US package as a secondary list equivalent, the exchange could take over diligence and market surveillance agreements and expand local documentation to UK regulations.
Reforms raising UK capital to raise the threshold for subsequent provisions and streamlining prospects will provide the other half of the plumbing for a shorter document window and a new public offer platform that will be stepped up until 2026.
There are already test cases of market structure in London.
The London Stock Exchange allowed notes traded on expert-only crypto exchanges launched in 2024, hosting 17 rows from eight publishers by mid-2025, and in 2024 a European-wide sales base was built.
This venue can import price finds from the US when matching products trade under general standards in US exchanges. The US Spot Bitcoin ETF Experience shows how spreads react when multiple market makers compete and consolidate depths.
CBOE analysis of post-launch transactions shows compression at national best bids, providing spreads in early sessions, moving to lower base regions as assets, and citing profit measures. These mechanisms will be translated into London if order flows and hedge inventory are portable throughout the venue and payment and custody risks are standardized.
The custody is the other hinge
The Secretary of Currency has confirmed that the National Bank may provide custody of crypto assets. If a bank implements controls that match previous interpretations, the previous non-denial steps are no longer needed.
The UK consulted on Crypto Custody and Sterling Stablecoin Regimes and coordinated the FCA and the Bank of England. A joint FAQ that clarifies subcustody and separation standards allows bank-related providers to appoint cross-border agents and bring three-party settlement, settlement and certification cycles into the ETP workflow.
According to the OCC Guidance and the UK Consultation, its structure reduces the concentration of a single provider model and reduces the operational drag for publication, creation and reimbursement.
The actual output of the 6-month playbook is a short stack of documents that companies can use right away.
One is a recognition memo that connects the SEC’s general listing standards and monitoring sharing to the UK listing requirements for the secondary line. The other is a custody sub-dealization FAQ that describes wallet operations, cold key separation, and assurance reports across jurisdictions.
The third is the Model Disclosure Annex covering forks, airdrops, staking treatments where applicable, evaluation agents, and corporate behavior.
Together, these items will save time for the UK secondary line towards the US 75-day mark where outgoing products already meet general standards, avoiding reviews for the second round.
The base case of the policy links
Over the next two quarters, the basic case assumes these soft-low tools, not changes to wholesale laws.
In that case, US venues continue to expand their roster under generic rules, with single asset trackers like Solana and XRP likely expanding among early candidates.
London can rely on arbitrage to mirror US toplines, add multi-asset baskets and connect quotes.
With that setup, the average daily volume of Bitcoin and Crypto ETN in London will increase in two digits of daily volume from current levels, and the quoted spreads will be compressed by about a fifth to half compared to summer baseline, drawing out large European sales built throughout 2024 based on the depth and manufacturer competition seen in the US.
The publishing mix shifts as US brands pursue secondary lines and existing European publishers expand their families and maintain consistent indexes across venues.
Bull and bear case
If regulators publish templates that treat the defined US Crypto ETP disclosure pack as a result equivalent to UK purposes, the number of London lines could rise to a low teen or thirties in the window, and banking market makers can see that custody subdeligation is explicit.
In that case, the bank provider will bring you a balance sheet and control framework, and cutoffs for creation or reimbursement early in the session will move, resulting in lower custody fees due to large-scale delegation.
The barecase limits the output to a statement of principles that maintains current friction, brings London counts closer to current levels, and leaves the most broadest improvements to organic manufacturer competition.
| Policy outcome | Transactions and spreads | Volumes and Lists | Beneficiary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dual List Up Pass (US generics → UK recognition) | US lead market price discovery strengthens UK quotes (import depth) ⇒ -20–50% Spread (3-6m) | +15–35% lse crypto etn adv; +8–15 New line | ETP Publisher, MKT Manufacturer, lse come |
| Sub-custom clarity (ock↔fca/boe) | More Bank Tri-Party/Risk ⇒ Lower failure, better settlement | The larger power of attorney moves to the bank stack. Low price (-10–25 bps) For size | Bank/Manager, ETF/ETN Sponsor |
| Aligned disclosure/monitoring | There is little hold-up of compliance. Easier MM onboarding | To the list Converges towards 75-90 days | exchange, Publisher |
| Simplification to raise capital (Poat + MJDS style) | n/a | Faster Follow-On; Cross-border books run in parallel | Crypto Infra/Fintech Publisher |
The Capital Rays sits alongside listings and custody. The UK Reform Truck will raise the following thresholds, trim the prospectus period and introduce public platform models:
Its design can be combined with the US shelf mechanics, allowing Bitcoin, crypto infrastructure, and fintech publishers to run parallel books rather than sequence markets. Cross-border products in North American that use mutual recognition of disclosure documented in US and Canadian materials have documented Canadian materials for multifunctional disclosure systems.
Applying that pattern to Digital Asset ETP documents and operating company pay raises reduces duplicate drafts and allows for a simultaneous marketing window without creating another bespoke carve-out.
A brief checklist appears to track impact
First, check out our interim report’s dual listing first pass, which outlines how the exchange can move monitoring and eligibility packages.
Second, look for a custody sub-sub-language that references both the OCC letter and the results of the UK custody consultation, with explicit wallet control and proof mapping.
Third, we track the disclosure annex of the model in which publishers can find employment in both US and UK filings.
Fourth, the issuer connects the UK capital rise threshold to US shelf capacity in a way that synchronizes the calendar.
The final metrics to monitor are LSE line counts, average spreads, and daily volumes collated by the manufacturer’s roster and custody provider name.
The pipeline could be adjusted 180 days in advance, as flow and positioning could move faster than formal recommendations. Coinshares shows a sustained inflow into digital asset funds until the end of the summer, leading by the US and supports stocks for creation after new tickers are listed.
If US exchanges continue to open new spotlines under generic rules and London recognizes its hard work, transfers of London quotes within the quarter will be displayed through standard cross-venue arbitrage channels.
The main risk of the timeline is supervisory bandwidth rather than the need for new law, as most of the actions required include recognition notes, FAQs, and sharing templates rather than statutory rewrites.
The task force describes the six-month window as the recommended target, and the calendar is currently running.
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