The United Kingdom is making a serious bet on the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA). According to a new industry plan prepared by the kingdom's authorized representative for digital markets, Chris Woolard, leadership in this area could bring the economy up to £33 billion (approximately $44 billion) annually by 2035. This is not just about forecasts, but a concrete roadmap designed for a year.

Key Stages of the Strategy: From Experiments to Scaling

The main goal of the document is to transition from one-off pilot projects to the full-scale implementation of blockchain technologies in the financial system. The plan includes several critically important stages:

  • Testing repo operations using digital securities;
  • Issuing the first tokenized government bond by the end of the first quarter of 2027;
  • Creating clear rules for secondary trading of digital assets;
  • Recognition of tokens as collateral by the Bank of England.

The working group includes more than 50 companies, including giants such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and Ripple. Representatives of Ripple have already voiced support for the initiative, emphasizing that on-chain funds and bonds are not experiments but already working tools that are "cheaper, better, and faster" than their traditional counterparts.

Why London Cannot Afford to Delay

The authors of the document warn: by 2035, tokenization of real-world assets could account for up to 16% of all global investments. To maintain its status as a global financial center, London must integrate this technology into the country's legal and tax framework within the next two years. Woolard emphasizes that the UK must "move at the speed of the most agile players," otherwise it risks losing the global race for digital markets.

Recall that back in April, the country's Ministry of Finance announced plans to merge the regulation of traditional finance, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits into a single legal framework. This step is a logical continuation of systematic work.

My analysis: The UK is demonstrating a pragmatism rare among large economies. Unlike many jurisdictions that either ban or ignore tokenization, London is purposefully creating infrastructure and regulatory "rails." If the plan is implemented on time, we will see not just growth in the RWA market, but a fundamental change in the structure of the British financial sector. This could become a catalyst for the entire European economy.