The U.K. government has begun efforts to build a blockchain-based financial market infrastructure. Following the United States and Japan, the U.K. is moving to foster tokenization as a strategic national industry, joining the race to secure leadership in next-generation financial infrastructure.
As the South Korean government officially announced plans to foster digital assets through its economic growth strategy this year, industry observers say the key challenge will be turning institutional roadmaps into concrete policies and execution.
BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Among Participants as U.K. Begins Building Tokenized Financial Market
According to CoinDesk and other reports on July 15, the U.K. Treasury is launching a public-private partnership program to introduce tokenization technology into institutional financial markets. A total of 54 financial and technology companies, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, are participating.
Participating organizations will spend one year identifying practical use cases for tokenized assets in the U.K. financial market. The initiative will initially focus on issuing and trading repurchase agreements on blockchain networks, with plans to expand applications to bonds, funds and collateral assets.
The U.K. government aims to move beyond technology demonstrations and create an environment where tokenized assets can be issued and traded in real financial markets. The Bank of England also plans to launch the “synchronization project” by 2028, which will connect the existing Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system with blockchain-based securities.
John Orchard, chairman of the Digital Monetary Institute under the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), said, “The biggest difference compared with Europe and the U.S. is that the U.K. government has expressed its intention to directly issue distributed ledger technology-based government bonds.”
He added that the initiative is significant because it aims to build an institutional-grade capital market based on high-quality safe assets.
The U.K. government expects tokenization to improve financial transaction efficiency and reduce costs. Chris Woolard, appointed as the U.K. Treasury’s wholesale digital markets champion, estimated that if the tokenization market becomes firmly established, it could increase the country’s annual economic output by up to £33 billion ($44 billion) and annual tax revenue by £14 billion ($18.7 billion) by 2035.
He emphasized, “To maintain influence in global financial markets, countries must respond at the same pace as the fastest-moving nations.”
Japan is also promoting Web3 and on-chain finance as part of its national growth strategy. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently reaffirmed plans to expand startup funding and support the growth of the Web3 industry during a speech at the “WebX 2026” event.
Takaichi said, “If government efforts and exchanges between companies and investors create synergy, Japan’s innovation ecosystem will develop.” The Japanese government has included Web3 in its national growth strategy since previous administrations and has pursued related tax and regulatory reforms.
SBI Holdings, one of Japan’s largest financial groups, has also entered a strategic partnership with the Solana Foundation to build an on-chain financial market in Japan. The two organizations plan to connect Japanese financial assets with global blockchain networks through yen-based stablecoins, tokenization and cross-border payments.
The U.S. is also approaching the digital asset industry from a national competitiveness perspective. After enacting the Genius Act, which established a regulatory framework for stablecoins last year, the U.S. is now working on the Clarity Act to define the legal status of digital assets and clarify regulatory jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The U.S. Senate is expected to release a consolidated amendment proposal for the Clarity Act as early as this week. If passed, the legislation is expected to provide clearer regulatory standards for digital asset companies and traditional financial institutions entering the cryptocurrency market.
U.S. President Donald Trump also said through Truth Social that “many countries, including China, are trying to take over this industry,” adding that although “the U.S. is currently leading, we cannot allow China to win in both AI and digital assets.”
U.S. Focuses on Legislation, Japan on Industry Growth; South Korea Faces Pressure to Move Beyond Roadmap
South Korea, meanwhile, remains behind major economies in terms of regulatory development. Progress on the second phase of digital asset legislation has been delayed as the government, lawmakers and industry stakeholders have struggled to reach agreement on issues including issuers of won-based stablecoins and ownership limits for major shareholders of cryptocurrency exchanges.
As global regulatory efforts accelerate, the South Korean government announced digital asset development measures in its “2026 Economic Growth Strategy.” The government plans to move forward with legislation for the delayed second phase digital asset framework and establish legal foundations for stablecoin regulation.
In connection with the legislation, the government also plans to create a framework for incorporating cross-border stablecoin transactions into the regulated financial system and support amendments to capital markets law related to spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The government also plans to launch a pilot project next year to test government bond tokenization linked with the Bank of Korea’s institutional central bank digital currency (CBDC).
An industry official said, “Tokenization has already evolved into a competition between countries over financial infrastructure.”
“While the U.K., Japan and the U.S. are presenting market direction and timelines through government initiatives before attracting private investment, South Korea remains at the roadmap announcement stage,” the official said.
The official added, “South Korea needs to quickly establish minimum regulatory standards and policy timelines so domestic companies can compete globally.”