This year has marked a turning point in how we think about money, trust, and technology. Through UK Finance’s GBTD pilot, the industry has taken bold steps toward delivering the first live transactions of fungible tokenised sterling deposits - a digital representation of commercial bank monies that retain regulatory protections while unlocking new capabilities. 

While this is innovation being driven by the private sector, the regulators and Bank of England have also been clear that tokenised deposits represent a great opportunity for the UK. In speeches throughout 2025, senior leaders have framed tokenised deposits as a genuine opportunity for the UK to lead in this area: this reflects a pragmatic vision for a multi-money system, where tokenised deposits coexist with central bank money and other regulated forms of digital value. 

Tokenised deposits are likely to be a critical feature of delivering the ambitions set out in the National Payments Vision. By combining the regulatory safeguards of commercial bank money with the programmability of distributed ledger technology, tokenised deposits can enable faster, more secure, and more transparent transactions. They can integrate with emerging payment infrastructures, supporting interoperability across systems and unlocking programmable innovations, giving customers greater control, enabling new services and reducing fraud. In doing so, tokenised deposits provide a practical pathway to modernise UK payments, aligning with the NPV’s pillars of innovation, competition, and security, and ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of global payments leadership. This is one of the reasons UK Finance has been calling for these kinds of industry project to be included in the NPV Forward Plan.

In wholesale and capital markets, the opportunities for tokenised deposits are also clear. Tokenised commercial bank money can play a critical role in unlocking the UK’s tokenised markets ambitions, providing on-chain settlement options that can be connected with central bank infrastructures to guarantee settlement finality. Whether this is for supporting the UK’s digital gilt issuance, or the settlement of other digital assets, tokenised deposits will support the UKs domestic and international goals. They will also be a key feature of efforts to enhance cross-border opportunities, for example, through work like Project Agora, or as part of ongoing discussions in the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future.

UK Finance has been supporting a consortium of members to take forward a project to pilot a platform for fungible tokenised deposits. The GBTD initiative builds on the Regulated Liability Network (RLN) concept and aims to position the UK as a global leader in payments innovation. Running until mid-2026, the pilot focuses on three practical use cases:

• Marketplace payments – reducing fraud and enhancing buyer confidence.
• Remortgaging processes – improving transparency and mitigating conveyancing fraud.
• Digital asset settlement – enabling a digital ‘cash-leg’ solution. 

These developments are not just technical milestones, they represent a secure, regulated evolution of the payments landscape. 

2025 also marked a global acceleration in tokenised deposit initiatives:

• Germany’s CBMT Project launched a sandbox to test real-world applications of tokenised commercial bank money, with participants including major banks and industrial giants. Use cases span delivery-versus-payment in supply chains, cross-border B2B transactions, and machine-to-machine payments - showing how tokenised deposits can integrate with Industry 4.0 ecosystems.
• Citi unveiled strategic expansion of its Citi Token Services product, including further Euro integration and also multi-currency liquidity and payment solutions.
• HSBC launched tokenised deposits in Hong Kong for its corporate clients, introducing the first bank-led, blockchain-based settlement service in the city.
• JPMorgan’s Deposit Tokens on Base represented a landmark move in the U.S., deploying a regulated deposit token (a bearer model) on a public blockchain. Plans for multi-currency versions signal a shift toward interoperable, programmable money for institutional finance. 

Conclusion

Tokenised deposits remain within the regulated banking perimeter and can therefore benefit from existing frameworks. They can enable atomic settlement, real-time liquidity, and integration with smart contracts - capabilities that could redefine consumer, B2B and wholesale payments. Tokenised deposits are a practical, regulated innovation that bridges the gap between today’s trusted banking system and tomorrow’s digital economy. The UK’s leadership in this “third way” could define the next chapter in payments. A vision for a multi-money future means that tokenised deposits and stablecoins will co-exist – multiple forms of value serving different needs, but both critical to the next generation of digital money.