The UK Government has announced a major step in launching the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT), a key pillar of its Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy.

The pilot will test how distributed ledger technology (DLT) can modernise sovereign debt issuance while maintaining London’s position as a leading global financial centre.

DIGIT Pilot and Partnerships

The government first committed to the DIGIT program at Mansion House last year, outlining design features to ensure the instrument is accessible to a wide range of participants and to support the development of secondary markets.

Following a competitive tender process after the October 2025 invitation to tender, HSBC was selected to provide its Orion blockchain platform for the pilot.

Lucy Rigby KC MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said:

“We want to attract investment and make the UK the best place to do business, which is why we are launching DIGIT to understand how the UK can capitalise on this technology, deliver efficiencies and reduce costs for firms. This is exactly the kind of financial innovation we need to keep the UK at the forefront of global capital markets.”

The government has also appointed Ashurst LLP to provide legal services for the pilot. Ashurst’s digital assets team is advising on regulatory and transactional matters, supporting the preparations for DIGIT’s launch.

Objectives and Design Features

DIGIT is designed to explore how DLT can be applied to UK sovereign debt issuance, while encouraging the development of UK-based DLT infrastructure and adoption across financial markets.

The instrument will be digitally native and short-dated, issued within the Bank of England’s Digital Securities Sandbox, and will deliver on-chain settlement. It operates independently of the government’s main debt management programme, allowing testing of new technology and market processes without affecting traditional gilt operations.

The government says the pilot positions the UK to take advantage of the potential growth in tokenised debt markets as other financial hubs explore similar innovations. By launching now, the UK aims to modernise its capital markets while ensuring broader market accessibility, efficiency, and transparency in sovereign debt issuance.