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The FCA Locks Its Cryptoasset Rulebook as Private Markets Go Onchain

Writer: Shawn Jhanji
Shawn Jhanji
Jul 1
5 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

Equity Rewired June 2026 tokenisation roundup cover graphic

EQUITY REWIRED: the monthly tokenisation roundup. June 2026 edition.


  • June was the month the UK stopped consulting and started deciding.


The UK: the clock starts ticking


On 30 June the FCA published its final cryptoasset rulebook, closing a process that has run for the better part of two years. The headline for most of the market was the stablecoin capital floor, cut from 2% to 1% of issued value after heavy industry pushback.


The detail that matters more for anyone building or investing here is the calendar. Firms can apply for authorisation from 30 September 2026 to 28 February 2027, and the regime itself takes effect on 25 October 2027. Custody, trading, staking, lending and stablecoin issuance all sit inside the perimeter. If you hold client cryptoassets for more than 24 hours, or you can override a client's instruction, you are a regulated custodian and you need the full safeguarding permission.


Two other UK clocks were ticking behind that one. The FCA and Bank of England joint call for input on tokenisation in wholesale markets closes on 3 July, the last real chance this cycle for the industry to shape how tokenised securities settle in a live, regulated environment. And PISCES, the regulated market for trading private company shares, saw its launch fee holiday end on 1 July, which means the first unsubsidised price on private share trading is now visible. Sixteen firms remain live in the Digital Securities Sandbox, and the Bank has restated its aim to launch a synchronisation service, linking tokenised settlement to central bank money, by 2028.


Why this matters to founders and investors: the UK is not racing to be first. It is building the one thing tokenised equity has always lacked, a regulated route where the token actually carries the legal rights of the share. That is slower than the offshore alternative. It is also the version that survives contact with a regulator.


Global: the private markets race speeds up


The rest of the world spent June proving why that route matters. On 11 June Citi became the first global bank to both issue and custody tokenised depositary receipts on private company shares, running on regulated blockchain infrastructure operated by Switzerland's SIX. The first issuance put shares of a Citi Ventures portfolio company in front of wealth clients. Investors hold a receipt, Citi holds the underlying, and a slice of private markets that has been illiquid for decades suddenly has a door into it. Access starts with non-US investors, which tells you how carefully even Citi is treading.


The exchanges moved too. The New York Stock Exchange said it is building a platform for trading and on-chain settlement of tokenised securities, and will seek the approvals to run it. A smaller venue, 24X, filed with the SEC for a tokenised trading pilot backed by the DTC. The DTCC itself is due to switch on its institutional tokenisation service in limited production this month, with full service in October, initially wrapping liquid assets such as large-cap equities, major ETFs and Treasury bills. Tokenised securities as a category grew from around $375m in May 2025 to $1.21bn a year later, and the wider tokenised real-world asset market now sits somewhere north of $30bn. The direction is not subtle.


The wildcard: the SpaceX lesson


And then there was SpaceX. When the company floated on Nasdaq in June, its roughly $75bn IPO was more than four times oversubscribed. Several offshore exchanges had promised their customers access at the IPO price through xStocks, a tokenised equity wrapper. More than $1bn in customer orders piled in. Binance alone drew around $557m across 27,700 wallets, an elevenfold oversubscription. Then the shares did not arrive. xStocks had no direct relationship with SpaceX underwriters, could not secure a meaningful allocation, and the campaigns collapsed into refunds. Customers who went through a more direct route at Kraken received a little over four shares' worth of exposure each. Everyone else got their money back.


It is the cleanest illustration yet of a distinction the industry keeps blurring. Tokenising a stock is not the same as getting one. A token is only ever as good as the legal claim and the custody sitting behind it. Strip those away and you are left with a marketing campaign priced in stablecoin.


What it means for UK founders and investors


Put the three threads together and the picture is coherent. The demand for onchain access to private and public equity is real and accelerating, from the largest banks down to retail wallets. The failures are almost always about the plumbing underneath: allocation, custody, and whether the token is legally the asset or just a claim on someone who promised to go and get it. The UK answer to that plumbing problem is the slow, unglamorous work the FCA and the Bank did in June.


For a founder, it means the credible route to tokenised equity and secondary liquidity runs through PISCES, the sandbox and the incoming regime, not through a wrapper on an offshore app. For an investor, it means the questions worth asking are boring on purpose: who holds the underlying, what rights does the token actually carry, and who is authorised to stand behind it.


The honest summary


June was a good month for the regulated path and a bad month for the shortcut. But regulated does not mean risk-free, and it does not mean ready. The FCA regime is more than a year from taking effect, PISCES is still an intermittent market with real pricing only now emerging, and the Bank synchronisation service is a 2028 ambition rather than a 2026 tool. The rails are being laid in the right order. They are not finished, and anyone who tells you tokenised equity in the UK is a solved problem is selling you the wrapper, not the share.

Sources

Editorial note: TokenisingStartups is an independent education and intelligence platform. Nothing here is financial, legal or investment advice.

Frequently asked questions


When does the FCA cryptoasset regime take effect?

The FCA published its final cryptoasset rulebook on 30 June 2026. Firms can apply for authorisation from 30 September 2026 to 28 February 2027, and the regime takes effect on 25 October 2027.

What activities does the FCA cryptoasset regime cover?

Custody, trading, staking, lending and stablecoin issuance all sit inside the perimeter. A firm that holds client cryptoassets for more than 24 hours, or can override a client's instruction, is a regulated custodian and needs the full safeguarding permission.

What is the stablecoin capital floor in the final FCA rules?

The stablecoin capital floor was cut from 2% to 1% of issued value after heavy industry pushback.

What are Citi's tokenised depositary receipts on private company shares?

On 11 June 2026 Citi became the first global bank to both issue and custody tokenised depositary receipts on private company shares, running on regulated blockchain infrastructure operated by SIX. Investors hold a receipt while Citi holds the underlying shares, and access starts with non-US investors.

What happened with tokenised SpaceX shares on xStocks?

Offshore exchanges promised customers access to the SpaceX IPO price through xStocks, drawing more than $1bn in orders. xStocks had no direct relationship with SpaceX underwriters, could not secure a meaningful allocation, and the campaigns collapsed into refunds.


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