Wall Street Titans Unite: BlackRock, JPMorgan and Other Giants Join UK Tokenization Working Group
The world's largest financial institutions, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and UBS, have joined forces in a new working group established with the support of the UK government. A total of 54 companies will collaboratively develop standards and infrastructure for asset digitization. This is not just another pilot project—it is a consolidated push to create a new market.
Focus on Repo and Ambitious Forecasts
In the first phase, the group will focus on tokenized repo transactions. This is a logical starting point: the repo market is one of the largest and most liquid in the world, and its digitization promises enormous efficiency gains. The work is planned for the coming year. According to estimates from the UK Treasury, tokenized markets could generate up to £33 billion in additional annual income for the economy and up to £14 billion in tax revenue by 2035.
Numbers That Speak for Themselves
According to the report underpinning the initiative, the UK remains the world's leading hub for wholesale capital markets, processing an average of over £4 trillion in securities daily. Meanwhile, tokenized assets accounted for only 0.01% of investment assets in 2025, but their value grew by 300% over the year. The growth potential is immense: the volume of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) could reach $88 trillion by 2035, far exceeding the current $3 trillion attributed to cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
Speed as the Key to Success
The report's authors warn of the dangers of delay. Without a clear national strategy, standards and infrastructure could develop abroad, undermining the country's role as an open global financial center. In tokenization, the winner is the one who acts faster: such countries will capture the largest share of activity, liquidity, and the right to set standards.
The UK has already made significant progress. The country plans to be the first in the G7 to issue government debt securities on the blockchain, as part of the DIGIT pilot project. The first real test of repo transactions is expected to be conducted by spring 2027.
Infrastructure and the Role of Regulators
To achieve its goals, the group is creating nine specialized areas. The core work will focus on four of them, covering the entire transaction chain: primary issuance, secondary markets, collateral, and settlement infrastructure. A separate coordinating group will ensure system interoperability and conduct cross-border tests.
Concrete steps are expected from the government and regulators: a priority trial issuance of DIGIT no later than the first quarter of 2027, and readiness from the Bank of England to accept these securities as collateral. The importance of the payment side is particularly emphasized: without reliable payment infrastructure, including tokenized deposits and stablecoins, large-scale tokenization simply will not work.
My conclusion: We are witnessing not just another initiative, but a consolidated movement by the elite of global finance. When BlackRock and JPMorgan sit at the same table with the government, it is a signal that tokenization is moving from the experimental stage to the construction of real market infrastructure. Investors should closely monitor developments—the standards being set now will shape the market landscape for decades to come.