UK tokenization push could add as much as $44B to annual output by 2035: Report The government-backed roadmap calls for the UK’s first digital gilt by early 2027 and seeks to make tokenized bonds usable for trading and borrowing.
The United Kingdom could add up to 33 billion pounds ($44 billion) to its annual economic output by 2035 by becoming a leader in tokenized financial markets, according to a government-backed industry task force
The estimate appears in the first report from Wholesale Digital Markets Champion Chris Woolard, who was appointed by HM Treasury to help implement the government’s digital markets strategy. Developed with an industry task force, the report sets out a 12-month plan to test blockchain in a financial transaction where securities are used to borrow cash. It also calls for the UK to issue its first tokenized government bond by the first quarter of 2027.
The roadmap attempts to move UK tokenization beyond isolated pilots and into live markets where securities can be traded, settled and used as collateral. The report said the task was now to move “from pilots to scale” and “from ambition to action.” Ripple, which is listed among the task force’s industry members, backed the initiative on Monday. “Onchain funds, bonds and repo aren’t experiments,” the company said, adding that such instruments are already proving “cheaper, better and faster than their legacy equivalents.” UK builds on digital gilt and settlement initiatives The digital government bond, or gilt, itself is not a new proposal. The UK first announced the Digital Gilt Instrument pilot in November 2024.