Barclays, NatWest, HSBC complete first tokenized deposit customer transactions

September 24, 2026 at 08:07 PM2 min

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Seven of the UK's largest banks, including Barclays, NatWest, and HSBC, completed the world's first customer transactions using tokenized British pound deposits on a shared platform built by Quant. The trial included remortgage payments and a consumer purchase, testing whether regulated bank money can move between institutions and support retail payments. The group will next test settlement of digital assets using tokenized customer money.

Key Facts

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander participated in the Great British Tokenized Deposit initiative.
The platform was built by Quant, a distributed ledger technology service provider.
The trial included remortgage payments and a consumer purchase, according to an announcement on Thursday.
Tokenized deposits remain liabilities of issuing banks and retain conventional deposit protections.
The group will next test the settlement of digital assets using tokenized customer money.

The Trial

Seven of the UK's largest banks completed the world's first customer transactions using tokenized British pound deposits on a shared platform built by Quant. The money movement included remortgage payments and a test of a consumer purchase, according to an announcement on Thursday. The project is testing whether regulated bank money can move in tokenized form between institutions and in retail payments. The deposits moving across a common system involving several banks differs from a recent initiative by Lloyds to use tokenized deposits to buy a tokenized gilt within its own arrangement.

Participants and Platform

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander took part in the Great British Tokenized Deposit initiative. The platform was built by Quant, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) service provider. Tokenized deposits are digital records of money already held in a bank account. Unlike stablecoins, they remain a liability of the issuing bank and retain the protections attached to conventional deposits.

Regulatory Context and Next Steps

The tests come as the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority prepare the UK's financial system for tokenization and longer settlement hours. Regulators want to support tokenized markets while considering stablecoins for institutional settlement. The group will next test the settlement of digital assets using tokenized customer money, according to the announcement. Lucy Rigby, economic secretary to the Treasury, said these live transactions show how tokenized deposits can deliver practical, real-world benefits, contingent payments that give customers greater control over their money.