UK Banks Complete First Interbank Transactions with Tokenised Deposits

Seven of Britain's largest banks have completed their first interbank transactions using tokenised deposits on a shared platform. The participating lenders are Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest, and Santander. They conducted the test under the Great British Tokenised Deposit project, built by Quant.

The trial included remortgage settlements where funds were released automatically once a property transfer was confirmed. It also tested a purchase where payment was held until delivery was verified. This is an example of 'programmable money', where payments follow rules written into the system itself.

Tokenised deposits are essentially bank deposits recorded on a blockchain-style ledger, keeping standard deposit protections intact. Stablecoins, on the other hand, are issued by private companies and backed by reserves, offering no bank deposit protection and allowing issuers to freeze tokens at specific addresses.