ChainThink reports that, on July 15, according to CoinDesk, the UK plans to issue its first digital sovereign bond in early 2027, potentially becoming the first G7 country to place government debt on a distributed ledger infrastructure.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced the plan during her annual Mansion House speech, stating that further issuances will follow the initial offering.
The digital UK gilt instrument (DIGIT) will be denominated in British pounds, issued on HSBC’s Orion platform, and operated within the Bank of England and FCA’s Digital Securities Sandbox.
In 2024, the UK Treasury announced the pilot to test whether blockchain infrastructure can reduce settlement times, lower reconciliation efforts, and cut operational costs.
HSBC was appointed to operate the platform in February this year, having previously issued over $3.5 billion in digital bonds via the Orion blockchain.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey stated that the Bank of England will support DIGIT as eligible collateral for its market operations to facilitate tokenized repurchase agreements and allow banks to use the bond in central bank financing transactions.
Currently, the UK Treasury has not disclosed details such as the issuance size, maturity, coupon rate, investor eligibility, or settlement assets, and the inaugural issuance will not be included in the government’s regular UK gilt financing program.