UK Tokenization Push Could Boost Annual Output by $44B by 2035

A government-backed initiative in the United Kingdom could add as much as $44 billion to the country's annual economic output by 2035, according to a new report, as British authorities accelerate efforts to position London as a global hub for digital asset infrastructure.

At the center of the roadmap is a plan to launch the UK's first digital gilt — a government bond issued and settled using tokenization technology — by early 2027. The initiative also aims to enable tokenized bonds to function as usable collateral for trading and borrowing, potentially unlocking new liquidity channels across financial markets.

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Tokenization, the process of representing real-world assets as digital tokens on a blockchain or distributed ledger, has attracted growing institutional interest worldwide. Proponents argue that the technology can dramatically cut settlement times, reduce counterparty risk, and open traditionally illiquid asset classes to a broader pool of investors.

The UK's coordinated push signals a deliberate regulatory and market-infrastructure strategy, distinguishing it from more fragmented national approaches seen elsewhere. By anchoring the effort in sovereign debt — one of the most widely traded and trusted asset classes globally — British policymakers appear to be betting that a credible, government-issued digital instrument can catalyze broader private-sector adoption across fixed income and beyond.

The $44 billion output figure underscores the economic stakes attached to getting the framework right, as competing financial centers including the EU, Singapore, and the United States vie for leadership in the emerging tokenized-assets space. Continue reading at Cointelegraph.