Story perspectives

Reeves Launches Digital Gilt Plan, £33bn Growth Goal

7/14/2026

Summary

Reeves Unveils Digital Gilt

Chancellor Rachel Reeves was presented a roadmap on 13 July 2026 to issue a tokenised UK government bond, a digital gilt, in Q1 2027.
The roadmap estimates tokenised markets could add £33 billion (US$44 billion) to UK annual output by 2035.
A 54-firm taskforce including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, HSBC and Ripple will work with Chris Woolard CBE for 12 months to develop tokenised repo use cases and secure clear legal, regulatory and tax frameworks.

Summary

Taskforce Urges Tokenisation

Officials urge a DIGIT trial by Q1 2027 and the Bank of England to accept the digital gilt as collateral.
The 54-member taskforce includes crypto firms Coinbase, Circle, Ripple, Ava Labs, Kraken, Fireblocks and Chainalysis.
The taskforce is split into nine workstreams on tokenised collateral, payment infrastructure, interoperability, regulation, tax and compliance.
The report says tokenised bank deposits and regulated stablecoins are needed to settle tokenised securities without legacy systems.

History

Historical Context

Cryptographic e-cash ideas began with David Chaum’s ecash in 1983 and Digicash in 1995, paving the way for Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2009 launch of Bitcoin. By February 2021 Bitcoin’s market cap hit $1 trillion, prompting the UK Treasury’s 2014 study of crypto assets. Today a 54-member UK taskforce, including HSBC and Coinbase, is drafting a tokenised gilt roadmap for 2027.

1 of 3

Reeves Unveils Digital Gilt

Chancellor Rachel Reeves was presented a roadmap on 13 July 2026 to issue a tokenised UK government bond, a digital gilt, in Q1 2027.
The roadmap estimates tokenised markets could add £33 billion (US$44 billion) to UK annual output by 2035.
A 54-firm taskforce including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, HSBC and Ripple will work with Chris Woolard CBE for 12 months to develop tokenised repo use cases and secure clear legal, regulatory and tax frameworks.

1 / 3