UK Finance Completes Tokenization And CBDC Platform Experiment

According to CoinDesk, U.K. Finance, along with 11 of its member banks, has completed the experimental phase of a tokenization and central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform. The trade association aims to collaborate with regulators and public bodies to develop payment networks based on this technology. The program, which included banks such as Barclays, Citi UK, HSBC, and Natwest, concluded that the platform could deliver economic value and enable new functionalities like programmable payments. The Regulated Liability Network (RLN) is described as a financial market infrastructure capable of providing new capabilities for payments and settlement, including tokenization and programmability. Tokenization involves bringing real-world assets, such as securities, on-chain. Last year, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) supported a report on fund tokenization, and the newly elected Labour government has set a policy aim for the U.K. to become a hub for securities tokenization. Peter Left, co-chair of the RLN Project, stated that the platform supports developments in money and payments aligned with both public and private sector objectives, offering clear and long-term benefits for customers and the industry. The platform's core included a multi-issuer tokenization system that facilitated the issuance of tokenized commercial bank deposits and simulated a wholesale CBDC, a digital token issued by a central bank for institutional use. It also featured an application program interface (API) layer to enable interoperability across various forms of money and existing ledgers. U.K. Finance noted that the country's legal and regulatory framework is flexible enough to support the implementation of such an innovative platform, pending further regulatory engagement and implementation.