UK wholesale digital markets champion sets out tokenization plan projecting £33bn a year by 2035
HM Treasury published the first report of its Wholesale Digital Markets Champion, Chris Woolard, on 13 July 2026.
Central bank
Bank of England
Its draft Code of Practice for systemic sterling stablecoin issuers, published on 22 June 2026, caps each issuance at £40bn and raises the permitted share of backing assets held in short-term UK government debt from 60% to 70%.
The profile
The United Kingdom's central bank, responsible for monetary policy, financial stability and the sterling real-time gross settlement service. On 22 June 2026 it published a policy statement and draft Code of Practice for systemic sterling stablecoin issuers, capping each issuance at £40bn and raising the permitted share of backing assets held in short-term UK government debt from 60% to 70%. With the Financial Conduct Authority it operates the Digital Securities Sandbox, a regulated environment for digital securities running until 8 January 2029.
Frameworks and functions
- Digital Securities Sandbox
- Regulated environment operated with the FCA in which firms issue, trade and settle real digital securities under modified rules.
- Code of Practice for systemic stablecoins
- Draft rulebook setting backing-asset composition and a temporary £40bn ceiling on each systemic sterling stablecoin issuance.
Coverage
Developments in which Bank of England is a named party, newest first.
Regulation
Bank of England publishes draft rules for systemic stablecoin issuers with a £40bn issuance cap
On 22 June 2026 the Bank of England published a policy statement and draft Code of Practice for sterling systemic stablecoin issuers, dropping proposed individual holding limits in favour of a temporary £40bn cap per issuance.
On the record
Bank of England publishes draft rules for systemic sterling stablecoins
The Bank of England published a policy statement and draft Code of Practice for issuers of systemic sterling stablecoins, setting a temporary guardrail of £40bn per issuance instead of the individual holding limits it had consulted on. Issuers may hold up to 70% of backing assets in short-term UK government debt, with the remaining 30% in deposits at the Bank; responses are due by 22 September 2026 and regulated stablecoins are expected to operate from 2027.
Project Agorá prototype results published, with real-value testing to follow
The Bank for International Settlements reported that the Project Agorá prototype showed tokenisation of central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits can support atomic multi-currency settlement across jurisdictions while leaving each central bank in control of its own money and preserving transaction privacy. Seven central banks and more than 40 private financial institutions took part, and the project said the work would advance to real-value transactions in certain currencies.
BIS launches Project Agorá with seven central banks
The Bank for International Settlements announced Project Agorá, a public-private effort to test tokenised commercial bank deposits alongside tokenised wholesale central bank money on a programmable platform. Seven central banks joined, working with private financial firms convened by the Institute of International Finance.
First sterling payments settle on the Fnality Payment System
Fnality completed the first payments on its sterling payment system, with Lloyds Banking Group, Banco Santander and UBS transacting in tokenised central bank money held in an omnibus account at the Bank of England. The system was the first regulated wholesale payment infrastructure of its kind to go into operation.