Wall Street Titans Unite: BlackRock and JPMorgan Join UK Tokenization Working Group
The world's largest financial institutions, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and UBS, have joined a working group on asset tokenization established with the support of the UK government. A total of 54 companies will jointly develop standards and infrastructure for the digitalization of traditional finance.
Focus on Repo Transactions
In the first phase, the group will concentrate on tokenized repo transactions (repurchase agreements). According to UK Treasury estimates, by 2035, tokenized markets could generate up to £33 billion annually in additional economic output and up to £14 billion in tax revenue.
The potential of this direction is enormous: 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. The report's authors warn of the danger of delay — without a clear national strategy, standards and infrastructure could be established abroad, undermining the country's role as an open global financial center.
Speed as a Key Factor
It is noted that 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 authors cite speed as the main condition for success: 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.
To achieve its goals, the group is creating nine specialized areas. The core of the work will consist of four of them, covering the entire transaction chain: primary issuance, secondary markets, collateral, and settlement infrastructure. A full repo transaction — from start to finish — has been chosen as the first practical example. According to the researchers, this will serve as the foundation for scaling tokenization in secondary markets and yield the greatest efficiency gains.
The work will be led by a separate coordinating group tasked with ensuring system interoperability and conducting cross-border tests. Concrete steps are expected from the government and regulators: a priority pilot issuance of DIGIT no later than the first quarter of 2027, and the readiness of the Bank of England to accept these securities as collateral.
Payment Infrastructure as a Foundation
The importance of the payment side is emphasized separately. Without a reliable payment infrastructure, including tokenized deposits and stablecoins, large-scale tokenization simply will not work. The overall conclusion is that the foundation has already been laid, and now it is time to move from pilots to a full-fledged market. The first real test of a repo transaction is expected to be conducted by spring 2027.
Expert Commentary: This is a landmark event. The unification of giants like BlackRock and JPMorgan under the auspices of the UK government is a clear signal to the market: tokenization is moving from the experimental stage to the stage of institutional adoption. If the pilot repo transactions are successful, we will witness an avalanche-like growth in liquidity on blockchain markets, which will fundamentally change the landscape of global finance.