Linklaters advises UK Finance on pilot for live transactions using tokenised sterling deposits

Linklaters is advising UK Finance on the launch of a collaborative industry project to deliver live transactions involving tokenised sterling deposits (GBTD).

These tokenised deposits are a digital representation of traditional sterling commercial bank money. They are designed to retain the trust and regulatory protections of conventional deposits, while offering benefits such as enhanced speed and fraud protection.

Building on the successes of the UK Regulated Liability Network (RLN) project’s earlier phases, which Linklaters also advised on, this pilot phase will deliver innovation in tokenised deposits and programmable payments against three use cases.

• Person-to-person payments via online marketplaces: reducing fraud and enhancing buyer and seller confidence.
• Remortgaging processes: improving transparency, speeding up transactions, and mitigating conveyancing fraud.
• Digital asset settlement: connecting tokenised customer money to digital assets for seamless exchange.

The pilot will run until mid-2026 and aims to demonstrate tangible benefits to customers, businesses and the wider UK economy. These include giving users greater control over their payments, stronger fraud prevention, and more efficient settlement processes.

This project forms a vital part of the UK’s efforts to deliver next-generation money and payments via GBTD, by applying new digital technologies to the form of money most widely used by consumers and businesses today.

The platform will support interoperability between institutions and also offer tokenisation-as-a-service, ensuring that organisations without their own tokenised deposit capabilities can participate.

Richard Hay commented:

“This pilot is a significant step forward in the evolution of digital money in the UK. By enabling live transactions with tokenised sterling deposits, the industry is harnessing technology to enhance trust, security and efficiency across critical payment and settlement workflows. We are proud to support UK Finance as they bring together the industry to deliver innovation with strong regulatory underpinnings. The collaboration reflects not only the strength of the UK’s financial sector but also its determination to lead in setting standards for safe, practical adoption of tokenisation and digital payments.”

The Linklaters team is led by Global Co-Head of Fintech Richard Hay, alongside partner Harry Eddis, managing associate Sam Quicke and associate Megan Lim. They are supported by TMT / IP partners Julian Cunningham-Day and Paul Joseph.