PANews reported on April 21 that, according to The Block , the UK Treasury has released plans to bring traditional payment services, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits under a unified regulatory framework. The plan aims to regulate stablecoins used for payments through an upcoming stablecoin issuance regulatory mechanism, expand the Financial Conduct Authority's ( FCA ) regulatory authority over open banking, and explore regulatory adjustments for AI -assisted payment activities. The Treasury also plans to legislate to reduce the administrative burden on companies providing stablecoin payment services and has appointed former FCA Acting Chief Executive Officer and current EY Partner Chris Woolard CBE as "Head of Wholesale Digital Markets" to promote the development of tokenized wholesale financial systems. Furthermore, the government will provide approximately £ 1 million in additional funding to the Centre for Financial Innovation and Technology ( CFIT ) to support industry collaboration and will conduct consultations on regulatory reforms for payment services and electronic money, in line with its ten-year financial industry development plan.