08-13-2026 
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The United Kingdom’s top finance sector watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has begun preparing regulatory standards for tokenized gold, as part of a broader digitization push aimed at maintaining London’s position as one of the world’s leading financial markets, according to a report from the Financial Times.
Citing “people familiar with the watchdog’s plans,” the report said the FCA has been in discussions with industry participants, including banks, about how best to regulate tokenized gold to encourage growth in the U.K. market.
The talks, which are reportedly still in their early stages, are part of a wider effort by the U.K. to digitize wholesale financial markets and come as London’s dominance of the gold market is being challenged by the United States and, in particular, by China.
The London market has historically been the center of the gold trade and currently accounts for approximately 70% of global notional trading volume, according to the World Gold Council. The tokenized gold market cap, meanwhile, sits at around $4 billion, the majority of which can be attributed to two tokens, Tether Gold and PAX Gold, with market caps of $2.66 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively.
In terms of the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market more broadly, a recent report valued it at $60 billion across 7,000 products, while Citi Group (NASDAQ: C) predicted it would reach $5.5 trillion by 2030. In recent months, interest in the space has intensified as on-chain equity volumes surged 145% to $3.86 billion following the June 2026 SpaceX IPO.
This has not gone unnoticed by the U.K. government, which has been increasingly exploring how to capitalize on the booming space.
UK doubling down on tokenization
In July, Barclays (NASDAQ: BCS) and PwC published a report suggesting that the U.K. could unlock up to £33 billion ($44.56 billion) in additional annual gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035 by accelerating the adoption of tokenization.
However, the report found that “while the economic opportunity is significant, the U.K.’s window to secure its position as a leader is narrowing and decisive action is needed to avoid falling behind fast-moving jurisdictions.”
It also dismissed a common misconception of tokenization as “niche financial technology,” instead suggesting it could “enable a fundamental shift in how money, assets and information move.”
To make the most of this potential, the U.K. government jointly published with the U.S. a set of recommendations aimed at deepening cross-border financial activity between the two nations, including measures to support tokenized assets.
The Transatlantic Taskforce for the Markets of the Future (TTMF), established in September 2025 to develop recommendations to advance U.K.-U.S. financial services collaboration, called for engaging a private-sector-led group focused on industry experimentation and testing of cross-border use cases for tokenized assets, as well as supporting financial innovation through robust policy frameworks.
On the regulatory side of things, in May of this year, the FCA and Bank of England (BoE) released a consultation paper setting out their shared vision for tokenization in U.K. wholesale markets, with the aim of enabling U.K. financial firms to “adopt tokenization and distributed ledger technology (DLT) with greater confidence.”
The vision called for a digitally enabled wholesale markets ecosystem in which, among other things: tokenized securities, cash and collateral move more efficiently across the trade lifecycle, helping improve issuance, trading, clearing, settlement and post-trade processes; tokenized and non-tokenized asset infrastructure interoperates, supported by common rules and standards; private sector innovation thrives on trusted public sector foundations, including robust regulatory frameworks and high resilience standards; investors can transact in tokenized assets with confidence and secure redress where needed; and tokenized securities support the real economy through more efficient credit creation and more effective primary issuance of equity and debt.
“The Bank and FCA recognize the potential benefits tokenization can deliver for U.K. markets, including operational efficiencies, improved liquidity, risk reduction, and enhanced transparency,” said the finance watchdog. “Our approach supports tokenization whilst preserving the established regulatory principles that underpin the integrity of UK capital markets.”
Comment on the FCA and BoE consultation ended last month, and the pair are now in the process of incorporating the feedback into their proposed approach. However, based on Monday’s FT report, it appears the FCA is now in further discussions with the private sector over its approach to tokenized gold.
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