UK Risks Losing the Tokenized Wholesale Markets Race

London’s tokenized wholesale markets plan raises one hard question: can the U.K. set the rails before someone else does? The City of London Corporation is treating tokenization as a competitiveness issue for wholesale finance, not a crypto side project, according to PYMNTS.

The report, produced by Chris Woolard, the Treasury’s Wholesale Digital Market Champion, sets out a plan to accelerate tokenization across U.K. wholesale financial markets “at scale.” The core thesis is blunt: if market infrastructure is going digital, London wants to help define the standards, not rent access to systems built elsewhere.

Can London turn tokenized wholesale markets into a competitiveness shield?

The City of London Corporation framed the report around the economic role of wholesale finance.

“Wholesale financial markets are a fundamental driver of economic growth, directly supporting jobs and financing activity in the wider economy,” the City of London Corporation said. “Tokenising wholesale markets will boost the U.K.’s competitiveness, generating additional liquidity and revenues, securing cost and capital efficiencies, enabling innovation, and strengthening the resilience of the financial system.”

That language matters. The report is not pitched as an experiment in digital assets for its own sake. It’s about defending the U.K.’s position in global financial infrastructure.

The release says England has already made progress through pilots and small-scale commercial trials. It also says international competition has made it necessary for the country to secure a key role in the next generation of global market infrastructure.

XOOMAR analysis: that is the real signal. The U.K. sees tokenized wholesale markets as a control point. The winners won’t just process transactions. They’ll help define how assets are issued, traded, collateralized, and governed in institutional markets.

The report’s stated next steps are specific enough to show where the push begins:

• Secondary markets: Developing markets where tokenized assets can trade after issuance.
• Collateral: Tokenizing collateral, a core function in institutional finance.
• DIGIT: Expanding issuance of DIGIT, the U.K. Digital Gilt instrument.

That is narrower than a grand vision of putting every financial asset on-chain tomorrow. It’s infrastructure-first. Start where wholesale market participants already care about liquidity, capital efficiency, and settlement discipline.

Do the numbers justify the political urgency around tokenized wholesale markets?

The report cites projections that the tokenized real-world assets market could reach $88 trillion by 2035. It also says tokenization could add up to 33 billion pounds, about $44.1 billion, to Great Britain’s yearly economic output and 14 billion pounds, about $18.7 billion, in annual tax revenues within that time frame.

Those figures do heavy political work. They turn tokenization from a technical agenda into an economic-growth argument.

But the source material does not break down how those gains would be generated across settlement, custody, collateral, or market operations. The City’s statement names the intended outcomes: additional liquidity and revenues, cost and capital efficiencies, innovation, and financial-system resilience. It does not provide a full operating model.

That distinction matters for investors and institutions reading the report. The forecast is large. The implementation path is still forming.

Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, put the ambition in deliberately historic terms:

“The U.K. has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead a digital Big Bang in financial services,” said Chris Hayward. “By accelerating the adoption of tokenisation across our wholesale markets, we can build the market infrastructure of the future, set global standards, and reinforce the U.K’s position as the world’s leading international financial center.”

The phrase “digital Big Bang” is doing more than marketing. It invokes a shift in market structure. Still, the report’s immediate agenda is practical: secondary markets, collateral, and DIGIT.

Why does the supporter list matter as much as the technology?

The release says more than 50 companies support the project. The named group includes Ripple, Barclays, Circle, Citi, Coinbase, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Kraken.

That mix is the most important clue about the direction of the plan. It spans banks, crypto-native firms, payment-linked digital asset companies, and market infrastructure players. The report also points to “evidence of convergence” between established institutions and newer entrants.

Its examples are concrete:

XOOMAR analysis: the supporter list shows breadth, not alignment. Banks, exchanges, fintech firms, and digital asset companies may support the same broad direction while caring about different commercial outcomes. The report does not say those interests are already settled. It says the U.K. needs coordinated action with government and regulators behind it.

That coordination question is familiar beyond finance. Infrastructure shifts often expose who controls access, data, and risk. We’ve tracked similar control disputes in tech, including Exit Gap Haunts Apple OpenAI Lawsuit Over Data Access, and operational resilience problems in Ransomware Groups Slip the Net With Serial Rebrands. The asset class changes. The governance fight does not disappear.

What does the report reveal by naming collateral, secondary markets, and DIGIT first?

The sequence is telling. The report does not lead with retail crypto adoption or consumer payments. It focuses on wholesale market functions where institutional trust and repeatable process matter.

DIGIT, the U.K. Digital Gilt instrument, gives the plan a sovereign-market anchor. Collateral tokenization points to a core institutional use case where capital efficiency is a stated goal. Secondary markets matter because issuance without tradability risks becoming a narrow pilot rather than market infrastructure.

Woolard’s own statement reinforces the timing pressure:

“As one of the world’s largest and most international financial services markets, the U.K. is uniquely placed to become the global leader in wholesale market tokenisation,” Woolard said. “There is so much potential, technologically and economically, if the right actions are taken and decisions are made now to embrace and support tokenisation.”

The strongest reading is that London wants to move from trials to repeatable market practice. The weaker reading is that the report still depends on future decisions by industry, government, and regulators before it becomes real market plumbing.

Both can be true.

The report’s credibility will depend on whether named next steps become usable infrastructure, not just endorsed policy language.

Which evidence will show whether London’s tokenization plan is working?

The next phase should be judged by execution, not slogans.

The clearest confirmation would be progress in the areas the report itself names: deeper secondary markets, more practical use of tokenized collateral, and expanded issuance of DIGIT. A broader set of live commercial trials would also support the City’s claim that the U.K. is moving beyond small-scale pilots.

The thesis weakens if the effort stays stuck at endorsements from large firms without visible market infrastructure that institutions can actually use at scale. More than 50 supporters is impressive. It is not the same as adoption.

For now, London has made its intent clear. Tokenized wholesale markets are being treated as a strategic contest over financial infrastructure. The watch item is whether the U.K. can turn that intent into standards, products, and markets before the next generation of rails is decided elsewhere.

Disclaimer: This XOOMAR analysis is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not financial, investment, legal, tax, or professional advice. It does not provide buy, sell, hold, price-target, portfolio, or personalized recommendations. Verify information independently and consult qualified professionals before making decisions.

Impact Analysis

• London is treating tokenized wholesale markets as a strategic competitiveness issue for U.K. finance.
• The plan aims to help the U.K. shape future market infrastructure standards rather than depend on systems built elsewhere.
• Successful tokenization could improve liquidity, reduce costs, and strengthen financial system resilience.