The UK plans to issue a digital sovereign bond in early 2027, becoming the first of seven major industrialized countries to place public debt on a distributed ledger infrastructure.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the schedule in her annual Mansion House address to industry leaders. The government plans to make more issuances after the initial sale.
The Digital Gilt Instrument, known as DIGIT, will be a sterling-denominated government security issued on HSBC’s Orion platform and will operate within the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority’s Digital Securities Sandbox.
The Treasury announced the pilot in 2024 to test whether blockchain infrastructure could reduce settlement times, reconciliation work and operational costs. HSBC was appointed to manage the platform in February, having issued more than $3.5 billion in digital bonds through its Orion blockchain.
At the same event, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said the central bank will work to make DIGIT eligible as collateral in its market operations. That could support tokenized repos and allow banks to use the bond in central bank financing transactions.
The Treasury has not disclosed the size, maturity, coupon, investor eligibility or settlement asset of the bond. The initial sale will be made outside the conventional government financing program.
