Seven of the United Kingdom’s largest banks have completed the world’s first interbank customer transactions using tokenized sterling deposits, industry body UK Finance announced on September 24, moving regulated commercial bank money onto shared blockchain rails for the first time. The live payments ran through the Great British Tokenised Deposit (GBTD) initiative, which brings together Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander on a common platform built by Quant.
How the live transactions worked
Lloyds, NatWest and Barclays executed two remortgage completions, in which deposit funds were locked and then automatically released once each property transfer was confirmed, cutting manual checks and settlement delays. A separate three-bank group including HSBC ran a customer-to-customer payment that simulated an online marketplace purchase, holding the buyer’s money until the goods were confirmed delivered. “These live transactions show how tokenised deposits can deliver practical, real-world benefits and contingent payments that give customers greater control over their money,” said Jana Mackintosh, UK Finance’s managing director of payments and innovation.
Tokenized deposits, not stablecoins
Tokenized deposits are digital records of money already held in a bank account, and unlike stablecoins they remain liabilities of the issuing bank with the legal protections of a conventional deposit. The GBTD platform was developed by Quant as shared UK industry infrastructure, complementing work by the Bank of England, HM Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator. Because the money stays inside the regulated banking system, the Bank of England has encouraged the approach as a safer alternative to private stablecoins. The milestone builds on earlier UK pilots, including the country’s first tokenized retail deposit program launched by Midnight and Monument Bank.
What comes next
UK Finance said participants will establish a dedicated company and governance rulebook, and plan to issue three digital bonds in the first quarter of 2027 that can be traded and settled using tokenized deposits. Further pilots over the next few months will link tokenized customer money with digital assets for seamless exchange. The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby KC MP, called the transactions “a critical milestone for payments innovation in the UK.” Quant, which supplies tokenized-deposit rails beyond the UK, recently extended its work with Murex to unlock tokenized deposits and digital bonds.