Preliminary market engagement exercise for the UK digital gilt instrument pilot

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced details of the launch of the procurement process for the pilot digital gilt instrument (DIGIT) issuance. The pilot aims to: (i) enable the government to explore how distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be applied across the lifecycle of the UK sovereign debt issuance process; and (ii) catalyse the development of UK based DLT infrastructure and the adoption of DLT in UK financial markets. It is expected that:

• DIGIT will be issued on a platform within the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS), and suppliers will need to obtain any necessary permissions from the Bank of England and the FCA to operate in the DSS before they will be eligible for selection under the associated procurement.
• Given that the use of 'unbacked cryptocurrencies' or stablecoins are not within the scope of the DSS, these solutions will not be available for the purposes of the payment leg of any DIGIT transaction.

HM Treasury and the UK debt management office are seeking views from industry to inform the development and delivery of the pilot DIGIT issuance in a preliminary market engagement notice. In particular, they are seeking information to understand what technological options are available to facilitate an issuance, and how DIGIT can be best designed to stimulate wider development and adoption of DLT infrastructure across UK capital markets.

The closing date for responses to the questions posed is 13 April. The publication of the tender notice and invitation to tender is anticipated in late spring with successful suppliers selected in late summer.