On 5 March 2026, the Scottish Parliament passed the Digital Assets (Scotland) Bill at Stage 3 by a unanimous vote of 114 for, 0 against, and 0 abstentions, making Scotland the first part of the United Kingdom to legislate expressly that digital assets — including cryptocurrency — constitute property under Scots private law. The Bill now awaits Royal Assent before it becomes an Act of the Scottish Parliament. The Bill's operative provisions confirm that certain digital assets

On 17 February 2026, the Civil Justice Council launched an eight-week consultation examining whether rules are needed to govern the use of artificial intelligence by legal representatives in preparing court documents in England and Wales. The consultation closes on 14 April 2026. The CJC is an advisory body whose statutory functions include keeping the civil justice system under review and considering how to make it more accessible, fair, and efficient. The CJC established a

On 26 February 2026, UK Gambling Commission Executive Director Tim Miller announced at the Betting and Gaming Council Annual General Meeting that the Commission has initiated a review to examine whether a regulated path could be created for cryptoassets as a consumer payment option for licensed gambling operators in Great Britain. The announcement is pre-consultation; the Commission has not issued a formal consultation paper or proposed any amendment to its licence conditions

On February 11, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom issued its judgment in Emotional Perception AI Limited v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, case UKSC/2024/0131, neutral citation [2026] UKSC 3. The Court allowed the appeal, holding that an artificial neural network (ANN) implementing a media recommendation system does not constitute a "program for a computer...as such" within the meaning of section 1(2)(c) of the Patents Act 1977 and is ther

On February 4, 2026, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) of Luxembourg published Version 7 of its FAQ Crypto-Assets — Undertakings for Collective Investment, updating guidance that was first published in November 2021 under the title FAQ Virtual Assets — Undertakings for Collective Investment. The FAQ update is a supervisory guidance document; it does not constitute binding regulation but reflects the CSSF's current supervisory expectations and the appl

On March 2, 2026, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register (document number 2026-04089) to implement the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) regarding the issuance of payment stablecoins and related activities by entities subject to the OCC's jurisdiction. The rule is at the proposed stage and subject to public comment before any final action. The

On March 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations (IR-2026-29) establishing an alternative, optional process for digital asset brokers to furnish Form 1099-DA statements to customers electronically, without first offering paper delivery. The proposed regulations are at the notice-and-comment stage and carry no immediate compliance obligations. The authority for the proposed rules derives from the Infrastructure

On 5 March 2026, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) published Discussion Paper 12 (DP12) on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Tokenisation in Financial Services. The paper is at the consultation stage; the CBI invites written submissions via an online form, with responses due by 5 June 2026. The paper does not impose obligations on regulated entities but signals the CBI's supervisory priorities as MiCA implementation deepens across the EU and as Irish-authorised fund man

On 23 February 2026, the Ministers' Deputies of the Council of Europe held an informal meeting to address the regulatory, compliance, and security challenges posed by the rapid expansion of crypto-assets and decentralised digital finance. The meeting examined how crypto-assets are misused for illicit activities — including sabotage, unlawful political financing, terrorism, and money laundering — and how they enable covert financing of foreign operations that threaten European

The House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee opened an inquiry into the growth and proposed regulation of stablecoins in the United Kingdom in early 2026. The inquiry is at the evidence-gathering stage. The Committee took oral evidence from Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden and Executive Director Sasha Mills on 11 March 2026, and from industry representatives on earlier dates in February 2026. The Committee invited written submissions until 11 March

On 5 March 2026, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) published Discussion Paper 12 (DP12), titled "Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) & Tokenisation in Financial Services." The paper is at the consultation stage: the CBI invites written submissions from market participants, technology providers, academics, and policymakers until 5 June 2026. The CBI will publish a feedback statement after the consultation period closes. No rule changes take effect at this stage. DP12 sits with

The UK Information Commissioner's Office issued a monetary penalty notice against Reddit, Inc. on 24 February 2026, imposing a fine of £14,470,000 under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. The ICO found that Reddit had processed personal data of children under the age of 13 without a lawful basis and had failed to conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment before January 2025, when Reddit began operating an age assurance mechanism on i

On 19 November 2025, the European Commission adopted the Digital Omnibus legislative package, which includes proposed amendments to Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (the AI Act). The legislative proposal is at the European Parliament and Council negotiation stage. The Commission adopted the package to simplify the AI Act's implementation and preserve its innovation-friendly character while maintaining its risk-based architecture. The AI Act entered into force on 1 August 2024 under

On 25 February 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced the selection of four firms — Monee Financial Technologies, ReStabilise, Revolut, and VVTX — to participate in a dedicated stablecoin cohort of its Regulatory Sandbox programme. The action is at the testing stage; it does not constitute authorisation or approval of any stablecoin product. Testing began in Q1 2026, and findings will inform the FCA's final stablecoin policy rules, which the FCA expects to publ

On 23 January 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Consultation Paper CP26/4, "Application of FCA Handbook for Regulated Cryptoasset Activities – Part 2." The consultation is open; comments are due by 12 March 2026. CP26/4 is a proposed, not final, rule set. The FCA plans to open its authorisation gateway for cryptoasset firms in September 2026, with the new cryptoasset regime going live in October 2027. The FCA published CP26/4 under the powers conferred by

On 5 March 2026, the Central Bank of Ireland published Discussion Paper 12 (DP12), titled "Distributed Ledger Technology and Tokenisation in Financial Services." The paper is at the consultation stage; it does not constitute proposed rulemaking and carries no binding legal effect. The Central Bank invites written submissions by 5 June 2026, after which it will publish a feedback statement. The Central Bank issued DP12 under its mandate to maintain monetary and financial stabi

On March 5, 2026, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) jointly issued a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) clarifying the capital treatment of tokenized securities under the existing federal bank capital rule. The action is final and effective; it does not constitute proposed rulemaking and does not alter the text of existing capital regulatio

On January 29, 2026, CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig delivered inaugural public remarks at a joint CFTC-SEC event on harmonization, announcing Project Crypto as a joint SEC-CFTC policy initiative to modernize and harmonize U.S. federal oversight of digital asset markets. The initiative is in an early implementation stage: Chairman Selig directed CFTC staff to begin drafting rules across multiple subject areas, including decentralized finance safe harbors, tokenized collateral

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Consultation Paper CP25/15, "A prudential regime for cryptoasset firms," in 2025. The consultation proposed a bespoke capital and liquidity regime for FCA-authorised cryptoasset businesses operating in the United Kingdom. The FCA issued the consultation under powers conferred by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000), as amended by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (FSMA 2023), which created the UK cry

On 4 March 2026, SEC Chair Paul Atkins delivered remarks at the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) Artificial Intelligence Innovation Series Roundtable on Strategy and Governance Principles. The FSOC convened the roundtable under its mandate to identify risks to U.S. financial stability and to promote market discipline, as established under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Title I, 12 U.S.C. § 5321–5394. Chair Atkins spoke in his capaci