The UK is setting its sights on becoming the leading jurisdiction for tokenized wholesale finance. On July 13, 2026, Chris Woolard CBE delivered the first Wholesale Digital Markets Champion report to Chancellor Rachel Reeves. HM Treasury appointed the former FCA interim chief executive to the role in April 2026, and the City of London Corporation supports the initiative as secretariat. Additionally, the document lays out a coordinated national push toward live tokenized markets. Notably, it is the first of two reports, with a full sequel on DLT adoption and interoperability due by July 2027. The mandate builds on the Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy released in July 2025 under the Leeds Reforms.
The UK's first FX trades using tokenized RWAs as collateral, executed by @LloydsBank , @Aberdeen_plc, and @ArchaxEx on Hedera, just got a shoutout in the @HMTreasury-backed Wholesale Digital Markets Champion report as an exemplary industry achievement.
— Hedera (@hedera) July 14, 2026
This is what institutional…
The Economic Case and the “Network Game”
The report frames tokenization as a major growth lever for the UK economy. Boston Consulting Group projects an $88 trillion tokenized real-world assets market by 2035. In contrast, the current crypto and stablecoin market sits near $3 trillion. Consequently, the UK could add up to £33 billion in annual economic output by that date. Additionally, HM Treasury estimates £14 billion in new annual tax revenues.
Woolard warns that this position is not guaranteed. He describes tokenized markets as a “network game” that rewards early movers. Furthermore, he notes the UK must move at “the speed of the most agile players.” The US and EU are pursuing similar integration of tokenization into traditional finance. In response, the report calls for accelerated pace across policy, regulation, and industry execution.
A 54-Firm Taskforce Focused on Tokenized Repo
The taskforce brings together many of the world’s largest financial institutions across four broad camps. Notably, each grouping contributes distinct capabilities to the delivery structure.
- Global banks: Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, and UBS anchor the sell-side workstreams.
- Asset managers: BlackRock, Fidelity International, Schroders, and State Street bring buy-side balance sheets and tokenized fund expertise.
- Market infrastructure: Bloomberg, DTCC, Euroclear UK & International (CREST), Intercontinental Exchange, and LSEG with LCH represent the plumbing needed to settle tokenized assets at scale.
- Digital asset firms: Circle, Coinbase, Fireblocks, and Ripple contribute native crypto rails, stablecoin infrastructure, and custody technology.
Nine Action Groups will deliver on the report’s priority areas over the next 12 months. However, the taskforce’s first live target is a single end-to-end use case in tokenized repo. TheCityUK, the Investment Association, UK Finance, and Innovate Finance serve as industry partners. Furthermore, priority workstreams cover collateral, funds, payment rails, and interoperability standards. The report also flags legal certainty, tax neutrality, financial crime compliance, and resilience as enabling conditions.
DIGIT and the Broader UK Digital Markets Stack
The taskforce’s plans build on active UK pilots already in the market. Notably, DIGIT stands for the UK Digital Gilt Instrument, and HSBC Orion won the platform mandate earlier this year. Additionally, the pilot puts the UK among the first G7 countries to explore tokenized sovereign bonds. Meanwhile, the FCA and Bank of England run the Digital Securities Sandbox for regulated tokenization testing. Consequently, the report treats primary issuance, secondary markets, and tokenized collateral as connected priorities.
Hedera Emerges as the UK’s Live Tokenised Collateral Benchmark
The report singles out one live UK trade as an exemplary industry achievement. In July 2025, Lloyds Banking Group, Aberdeen Investments, and Archax completed the UK’s first FX trades using tokenized real-world assets as collateral. Specifically, tokenized units of Aberdeen’s money market fund and tokenized UK gilts posted as collateral for FX trades between the two counterparties. Archax, an FCA-regulated digital asset exchange, issued and held the tokens on the Hedera Hashgraph public permissioned network. Furthermore, the trade ran through Archax’s “Nest” permissioned DeFi collateral transfer network, giving each party real-time visibility over locked positions.
The scale context reinforces why HM Treasury singled out this trade. The UK trades roughly $5.4 trillion daily in FX and interest rate derivatives, accounting for close to half of global activity. Consequently, the country carries the largest institutional need for efficient tokenized collateral solutions. Additionally, the pilot compressed settlement, delivered real-time collateral movement, and preserved regulatory audit trails inside a live regulated venue. As a result, it demonstrates the exact end-state pattern that the taskforce’s tokenized repo trial must reproduce at greater scale.
Hedera’s UK regulatory footprint extends beyond this single trade. The Bank of England’s DLT Innovation Challenge selected Hedera alongside Circle, HSBC, and Digital Asset among ten firms exploring central bank money on programmable ledgers. Meanwhile, Hedera operates as public permissioned, giving regulated institutions the auditability they require without giving up open-access rails. Notably, the network was also the only one used in both public and private configurations during Australia’s Project Acacia central bank money pilot. The Wholesale Digital Markets Champion report itself remains network-agnostic on preferred infrastructure. However, the selection of a Hedera-executed trade as the UK’s showcase example carries clear signal on which live rails are already regulator-ready.
Timeline and What Comes Next
The report opens a concrete delivery clock. Feedback from market participants runs until September 4, 2026, after which the nine Action Groups will be finalised. Meanwhile, a cross-authority regulatory roadmap for wholesale market digitalisation is due before the end of 2026. Consultations on formal rule changes follow in 2027. Additionally, the taskforce targets a live tokenized repo trial in spring 2027, with Woolard’s second report to the Chancellor expected in July 2027.
Chris Hayward, Policy Chairman at the City of London Corporation, called the moment “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead a digital Big Bang in financial services.” Chancellor Rachel Reeves added that keeping the UK’s top spot in global finance requires harnessing tokenization to attract investment. Furthermore, industry voices flagged practical delivery risks. Kirit Bhatia of Banking Circle warned that funding, settlement, mobilisation, and cross-network movement all require aligned payment infrastructure. The report leaves that infrastructure question as the taskforce’s central execution test over the next 12 months.
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