The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority have published a joint “shared vision” for tokenisation in UK wholesale markets, signaling a push to move distributed ledger technology out of pilot projects and into live production with clearer regulatory and infrastructure rules.
What they announced
- A joint Call for Input aimed at giving firms greater regulatory certainty as tokenised assets scale up. The BoE and FCA said they will clarify their approaches in areas where firms want more certainty, including prudential treatment, tokenised collateral and settlement instruments.
- Concrete infrastructure plans from the Bank of England: a live synchronisation service targeted for 2028; a consultation on extending RTGS and CHAPS settlement hours toward near 24/7 operation; and support for HM Treasury’s DIGIT pilot (a digital gilt issuance).
- Continued industry engagement via the Digital Securities Sandbox, where the regulators are working with 16 firms on live issuance and settlement of tokenised assets.
- Parallel supervisory steps: the Prudential Regulation Authority has issued Dear CEO letters updating guidance on prudential treatment of tokenised assets, stablecoins and other crypto exposures.
Why it matters
Tokenisation — the process of representing assets as digital tokens on a ledger — promises to reshape wholesale finance by speeding issuance, trading and settlement and enabling new collateral and financing options. Regulators framing a common approach reduces legal and operational uncertainty for banks, market infrastructure providers and fintechs as projects move from experimentation to full-scale use.
Voices from regulators and industry
- Sarah Breeden, deputy governor for financial stability at the Bank of England, urged a combined public–private effort to build on the “strong foundations” laid by the Bank and FCA as the industry moves “from pilots to production to support financial stability and sustainable growth.”
- Simon Walls, the FCA’s executive director of markets, said tokenisation could “transform wholesale markets — reshaping how assets are issued, traded and settled.”
- Katie Harries, Head of Policy for Europe at Coinbase, welcomed the joint vision and urged the BoE and FCA to view decentralised finance as an opportunity to “deliver meaningful benefits for its citizens” by taking an ambitious, forward-looking approach.
Recent context and next steps
The announcement follows signs the Bank is open to refining its stance on stablecoin rules: Breeden told the Financial Times the Bank was reviewing whether its proposed stablecoin reserve floor and retail holding caps had been “overly conservative” after industry pushback. Separately, Sasha Mills, the Bank’s director of financial market infrastructure, has described stablecoins as a “new form of money” and said the Bank expects to accept applications from potential systemic stablecoin issuers by year-end.
The Call for Input is intended to collect industry views that will shape the regulators’ next moves. For market participants, this marks a pivotal moment: the UK’s top financial authorities are laying early groundwork to operationalise tokenisation while balancing innovation with prudential and market-stability concerns.
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