Why tokenisation can help shape the next era of UK growth

Evidence tier: A1 Evidence type: Auto-discovered official publication Source: Barclays browser-verified publication index Official publication date: 2026-07-09 Captured: 2026-07-18T16:32:06.575Z

This article is part of our UK unlocked series - expert insights on the economic and business issues most critical to the UK's companies and policy leaders.

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Read time: 4 minutes

July 9 2026

• Tokenisation could unlock up to £33bn of annual UK economic output by 2035, with most of the benefit expected beyond financial services
• Today’s financial system remains slowed by fragmented infrastructure, with settlement and reconciliation often taking days despite instant digital transactions
• By enabling near real-time settlement, tokenisation can reduce costs, release trapped capital and improve economic efficiency
• The opportunity extends well beyond banking, from faster SME payments to automated insurance claims and more efficient public services
• The UK has the expertise to lead the next phase of tokenised finance, but speed, regulatory clarity and implementation will be critical
• Interoperability will determine success, ensuring assets, payments, identity and compliance systems work seamlessly across markets and borders

Money has never stood still. Each stage of economic development has reshaped how value is stored, transferred and trusted, from precious commodities to banknotes, from cheques to cards, and from early digital systems to today’s instant payments.

We are now at the next stage of that evolution. For the UK, that presents a significant opportunity. Tokenisation can help shape the next era of growth by transforming how value moves across the economy. This is not theoretical. In “Rewiring Finance: The Tokenisation as a Catalyst for UK Growth”, a new report from Barclays and PwC, the scale of the opportunity is laid bare.

The report’s findings show that tokenisation could deliver an estimated £33bn in additional annual output by 2035 – with roughly two-thirds of this benefit coming from gains outside the financial sector – and that is an opportunity we should seize.

An evolving system

Over the past two decades, finance has become markedly more digital. Consumers and businesses can check their balances, instruct payments, execute trades and access financial records almost instantly, creating a front-end experience that feels fast, seamless and always on.

But the infrastructure beneath has not kept pace. While transactions are initiated electronically, the processes behind them – ownership records, settlement and reconciliation – remain fragmented across multiple systems, intermediaries and ledgers. Transactions that take seconds to initiate can still take days, or even weeks, to complete.

This fragmentation ties up capital, slows the movement of money and assets, creates execution risk for all those involved in transactions and forces firms to hold excess liquidity and capital. The impact extends far beyond financial services, increasing costs for households and businesses and constraining productivity, investment and growth across the wider economy.

Tokenisation offers a fundamentally different model. By representing assets, money and associated rights as digital tokens on shared, programmable infrastructure, it creates a single, synchronised view of ownership and transaction history.

Assets can be issued, transferred and settled in near real time, with embedded rules that automate processes, reduce reliance on intermediaries and lower costs.

In doing so, it can move finance from a system vulnerable to delay and fragmentation to one built on speed, certainty and continuous operation.

Financial innovation drives economic progress when it improves how capital flows. Each shift in infrastructure has made markets faster, more accessible and more efficient.

This makes it easier for households to buy homes, businesses to grow and governments to invest. It also helps investors to deploy capital faster and more productively.

Tokenisation builds on that trajectory. It does not simply digitise existing assets; it reshapes how they are created, exchanged and settled.

From momentum to scale

This shift is already underway. Financial centres are moving from experimentation to implementation, investing in the infrastructure, regulation and market frameworks needed to scale tokenised finance.

The UK has the expertise and institutional strength to lead – but only if it acts now, and does so with clarity and purpose. This is not simply about financial services; it is about using that strength to support wider economic growth.

The potential extends beyond wholesale markets. Tokenisation can reshape how economic activity is coordinated. Small businesses could receive payment as soon as invoices are verified. Insurance contracts could execute automatically when conditions are met.

Welfare benefits could be distributed automatically without manual processing. Households and local communities could invest in infrastructure and assets previously beyond their reach. These are not distant possibilities; they reflect capabilities that are already emerging or are present today.

In the near term, adoption will focus where the economic case is clearest. Cross-border payments can settle faster, interbank transactions can improve liquidity management, collateral can move more freely and tokenised funds can reduce settlement friction and expand access.

Together, these use cases can build confidence and momentum, but the larger opportunity depends on scale -– and scale depends on “interoperability” (in all its guises).

Markets will only realise the full benefits of tokenisation if assets, payments, identity, compliance and settlement systems work seamlessly together. Without that, tokenisation risks fragmenting markets. With it, markets can operate with greater speed, transparency and cohesion across borders.

A moment for leadership

To capture this opportunity, the UK must act decisively. Barclays is calling for clear, coordinated action. Our recommendations include setting a national direction for tokenisation, focusing on priority markets such as digital gilts, corporate bonds and private markets, and making interoperability a defining strength for the UK.

The UK may not lead every use case, but it can lead where it matters most: connecting them. By acting as a trusted bridge, it can set the standards that make tokenised markets work across borders.

At the same time, barriers to scale must be addressed-through faster licensing, clearer regulation, digitised reporting and updated market frameworks that support trust and adoption. Crucially, tokenisation must be connected to the wider growth agenda, supported by digital public infrastructure and targeted public-sector use cases.

We cannot stand and watch. Standards are forming, markets are developing and competitive advantage is being established now. With ambition and coordination, the UK can shape the next generation of financial markets while unlocking a material opportunity for growth. Without it, that opportunity will be defined elsewhere.

To read more insights from the report's author, Sarah Barbut, please visit her Substack page.

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