UK’s HM Treasury has formed a 54-company task force to accelerate the adoption of tokenized assets in financial markets, led by Chris Woolard, former interim CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Woolard, appointed Wholesale Digital Markets Champion in April 2026, delivered his first official report to Chancellor Rachel Reeves on July 13. The City of London Corporation coordinates the task force, working with TheCityUK, UK Finance, the Investment Association, and Innovate Finance.
Task Force Goals and Structure
The core objective is to deliver end-to-end live use cases within 12 months, starting with tokenized repo transactions. Nine action groups will establish standards across the market value chain. The Global City, a division of the City of London Corporation, expects the first live repo trial by spring 2027, with expansion to commodities and other asset classes under consideration later that year.
The task force roster includes crypto and blockchain firms such as Circle, Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken’s Payward, Chainalysis, Fireblocks, Ctrl Alt, Digital Asset Holdings (Canton Network), GFO-X, Ubyx, SLIX, Tokenovate, and Wintermute. They will collaborate with traditional financial giants like HSBC, Barclays, UBS, Citi, State Street, London Stock Exchange Group, and DTCC. By bringing together stablecoin issuers and crypto exchanges with established banks, the initiative aims to bridge digital and traditional financial infrastructure.
Economic Impact and Projections
Kirit Bhatia, Chief Digital Assets Officer at Banking Circle, noted “the harder problem is plumbing, not issuance,” emphasizing payment infrastructure must support real-time settlement, cross-border movement, regulated money, and interoperability among stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and fiat systems. “Without it, digital assets risk becoming faster at the edges but still constrained by legacy plumbing underneath,” Bhatia said.
Woolard’s report cites a Boston Consulting Group forecast that the tokenized real-world asset market could reach $88 trillion by 2035, compared to $3 trillion in today’s crypto and stablecoin market. For the UK, tokenization could generate an additional £33 billion in annual economic output and £14 billion in annual tax revenue by 2035. Woolard characterized inter-regional competition as “a network game,” warning that UK leadership is not guaranteed and that “we must move at the speed of the most agile players.” Chancellor Reeves stated that maintaining UK’s lead in global finance requires “harnessing technologies like tokenization,” while City of London Corporation Policy Chairman Chris Hayward described the initiative as a chance to “lead a digital Big Bang in financial services.”
Next Steps
The task force builds on previous projects, including DIGIT, a tokenized government bond (Digital Gilt). The first DIGIT is projected to launch in Q1 2027 within the Bank of England and FCA’s Digital Securities Sandbox. Public feedback on Woolard’s report is open until September 4, 2026. Final membership for the nine action groups will be confirmed by end of September, with a second report to the Chancellor scheduled for July 2027.