The United Kingdom aims to be the first G7 country to issue a digital sovereign bond, planning to launch it in early 2027 as part of a new blockchain-based debt program. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) will be issued using HSBC’s Orion blockchain platform and will run within the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority’s Digital Securities Sandbox.
This project will test if distributed ledger technology can make settlements faster, lower costs, and modernize the government’s debt market, while keeping the traditional gilt program in place.
DIGIT will be a government bond in British pounds, issued on blockchain but still overseen by financial regulators. This project follows the Treasury’s 2024 plan to explore digital securities and comes after HSBC was chosen to run the platform, having already issued over $3.5 billion in digital bonds worldwide through Orion.
The government has not yet shared details like the bond’s size, maturity, interest rate, or who can invest. Officials said the first issue will be separate from the UK’s usual gilt financing program. This launch is mainly to show how the technology works, not to replace traditional government borrowing.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said the central bank plans to let DIGIT be used as collateral in its market operations. This could eventually support tokenized repo transactions and let banks use the digital bond to get central bank funding, making it more useful in financial markets.
More governments are looking into using blockchain for issuing sovereign debt. Supporters say distributed ledger technology can speed up settlements, cut down on reconciliation work, and make things more transparent while saving money. If the UK program works well, it could inspire other big economies to try similar digital debt tools and speed up the use of tokenized government securities worldwide.
Last night at Mansion House, the Chancellor gave a strong update on #UKfintech: GBTD moving to live transactions, the UK’s stablecoin regime, agentic payment tools, and plans for the UK to become the first G7 country to issue a Digital Sovereign Bond.#GBTD moving from concept…
— Quant (@quantnetwork) July 15, 2026
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