UK Banks Tokenize Deposits in Groundbreaking Mortgage Refinancing Pilot
UK Finance, a trade body that represents seven major UK banks, has successfully completed the first live customer transactions using tokenized sterling deposits. The project, known as the Great British Tokenised Deposit (GBTD), was launched in September 2025 and involves Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest, and Santander.
The GBTD initiative allows banks to tokenize customer deposits, creating digital versions of commercial bank money that retain regulatory protections. This enables conditional payments, where funds are locked until specific conditions are met, such as the completion of a mortgage refinancing or the transfer of ownership in a marketplace sale.
Gilbert Verdian, founder and CEO of Quant, which built the shared GBTD platform, stated that these transactions represent 'real money moving on UK infrastructure, not an experiment.' He also highlighted the potential for conditional payments to solve issues like failed completions and authorized push payment fraud.
UK Finance expects further pilots over the next few months to test settling digital assets with tokenized customer money. Banks in the project plan to issue digital debt instruments whose coupons are paid in tokenized deposits.