Rewiring Finance: Tokenisation as a Catalyst for UK Growth

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Key findings

A new generation of financial infrastructure is emerging

Tokenisation will enable the UK to build a more connected financial system where money, assets and records can move together with less friction and greater traceability.

When combined with other technologies, tokenisation can make financial activity faster, cheaper and more accessible for households and businesses. Investors could access a wider range of opportunities, businesses could raise finance more quickly, financial institutions could use capital more efficiently, and transactions could settle with fewer delays, errors and manual processes.

Our modelling suggests that tokenisation could increase annual UK economic output by up to £33bn by 2035. While some of this reflects productivity gains within financial services, the larger benefits come from lower transaction and financing costs for businesses, increased investment in productive assets and more efficient allocation of capital across the economy. These benefits grow as global adoption increases, reinforcing the need for the UK to act now and help shape the global agenda.

Tokenisation should therefore not be thought of as just a financial services technology enhancement, but a critical enabler of the wider industrial strategy.

Why and where the UK should act 

The next few years are likely to be decisive. Around the world, policymakers, regulators and financial institutions are putting in place the infrastructure, market frameworks and incentives needed for tokenised finance to scale. Countries that help shape how these markets develop are likely to be better placed to attract investment, capture high value activity and strengthen their competitive position.

Progress is already accelerating in areas such as cross-border payments, investment funds, government debt and collateral management, where the commercial benefits are clear and demand is strong. If the UK helps shape these tokenised markets, it will be better placed to defend its existing strengths, attract investment and capture a greater share of the economic and export opportunity.

The UK should also actively shape the next wave of opportunities where it has a credible right to lead. Use cases such as corporate debt, infrastructure finance, private markets, trade finance and homebuying may take longer to scale because they require coordination across legal records, digital identity, assets and payments. But that is precisely why early action matters. By helping define standards, build confidence and demonstrate practical applications, the UK can strengthen its position in these areas while supporting investment, productivity and growth across the economy.

Five key recommendations

Capturing this opportunity will require coordinated action from government, regulators and industry. The priority is not to define a single end state for tokenised finance, but to provide a clear strategic framework that gives firms confidence to invest while remaining flexible enough to evolve with market demand, technology and global standards.

If tokenisation develops in a fragmented or poorly governed way, it could create new risks around market fragmentation, financial stability, operational resilience and consumer trust. The UK’s objective should therefore be to support innovation while putting the foundations of a trusted, resilient and interoperable tokenised financial system in place from the outset.

Through this report we have identified five priorities for action: 

• Set a clear direction for the UK: Align government, regulators and industry around a joined-up vision and roadmap for tokenisation across digital money, markets, assets and the wider economy, and promote it confidently to global financial institutions, new entrants and partner jurisdictions.  
• Build momentum in priority use cases: Convene targeted working groups to take DIGIT rapidly into its next phase, including the conversion of existing stock, and accelerate priority use cases where the UK can credibly lead. These include corporate debt, infrastructure finance and private markets, alongside practical consumer-facing applications such as homebuying or SME finance.
• Make interoperability a distinctive UK strength: Position the UK as the trusted place where different tokenised systems connect safely and credibly. The UK should focus first on domestic use cases where tokenised assets need to settle against tokenised money, then use these examples to shape international standards and corridors.
• Proactively address potential barriers to scaling: Systematically address remaining legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, prudential, operational and cost barriers, with visible progress over the next six months to show that the UK is moving from consultation to delivery.
• Connect tokenisation to the wider growth agenda: Build familiarity with tokenisation across the UK’s other priority growth sectors, and ensure related reforms, including digital identity and open registries, are designed for a tokenised economy.