The United States and the United Kingdom announced the creation of a joint task force Monday aimed at enhancing ties between both nations’ crypto economies and easing restrictions on cross-border capital flows in the digital assets sector.
The Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future will be chaired by officials from both the U.S. Treasury Department and His Majesty’s Treasury, and include representatives from relevant financial agencies in both countries responsible for digital assets regulation.
The group has been tasked with finding ways for both nations to collaborate on digital asset regulation in the near and longer term. It has also been encouraged to increase links between the British and American capital markets, and reduce barriers to cross-border investment in the crypto sector.
The task force is expected to release an initial report with policy recommendations by March 2026.
Industry experts responded with enthusiasm to the plan, suggesting it could meaningfully benefit a wide swath of the crypto economy if enacted.
James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, told Decrypt the UK is currently far behind the U.S. when it comes to crypto adoption. This collaboration, he said, could “kick-start” Britain’s digital asset sector.
Streamlined cross-border capital raising and more unified digital asset rules in both countries would also “significantly benefit” assets like tokenized securities, stablecoins, and exchange-traded crypto products, he added—and encourage their adoption across the rest of the world.
“A U.S.-UK framework might legitimize these products further, providing a path to mainstream adoption within global capital markets,” Butterfill said. “If executed well, it could also encourage institutional investors who are waiting for clearer regulatory alignment.”
Carlos Guzman, vice president of research at GSR, told Decrypt the new cross-Atlantic task force could help “maximize the impact digital assets can have on both economies.”
While some paths currently exist to allow UK companies to tap into U.S. crypto markets, and vice versa, different digital asset rules in both jurisdictions have impacted the extent of that cross-pollination, Guzman said.
U.S. crypto regulators have long discussed the possibility of increasing ties between American and British crypto markets. Last year, SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, now chair of the agency’s crypto task force, proposed a cross-border “digital securities sandbox” that would allow crypto projects in both nations to collectively experiment with using blockchain networks to trade securities without fear of reprisal.
Under the Trump administration, the SEC has pushed forward with plans to establish such a sandbox in the United States. An SEC spokesperson did not immediately respond when asked by Decrypt whether the UK might be included in such frameworks going forward, given today’s announcement and the scope of the Transatlantic Taskforce.