UK Finance announced on September 24, 2026 that four of Britain’s largest banks have completed the first interbank transactions settled with blockchain-based tokenized deposits, Coinpedia reported. The work was carried out under UK Finance’s Great British Tokenised Deposit (GBTD) project, which is designed to test digital versions of bank deposits while preserving the consumer protections attached to ordinary deposits.
The participants named by UK Finance were Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays and HSBC. The transactions were not simulations: they ran across live remortgage and online purchase scenarios, according to the report.
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Key facts
- Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest and Barclays completed two live mortgage remortgage transactions in which funds were held until a property transfer was confirmed on the blockchain, then released automatically between the banks.
- HSBC led a separate test built around an online marketplace purchase, using programmable deposits to hold the buyer’s money until the system confirmed delivery of the goods to the seller.
- UK Finance said the trial showed tokenized deposits issued by different banks can move across separate blockchain systems and settle payments automatically.
- The project uses technology from Quant Network to execute the transactions.
- Canada’s six largest banks — Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and TD Bank Group — announced on September 22, 2026 that they are jointly exploring tokenized Canadian dollar deposits for interbank payments, as reported by Cointelegraph.
Where the UK and Canada stand
The two efforts sit at different stages. In the UK, UK Finance said the GBTD transactions have already been completed in real-world conditions. In Canada, the banks described a first phase that will focus on moving tokenized deposits among Canadian financial institutions before any connection to other digital asset systems. Cointelegraph reported that the Canadian initiative came less than two weeks after the country’s banking regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, said on September 10 that tokenized deposits are not legally distinct from traditional deposits, adding that the technology behind a financial product does not determine its legal nature.
Cointelegraph also reported that Canada enacted its Stablecoin Act in March as part of Bill C-15, setting up a federal framework for fiat-backed stablecoins issued by non-financial institutions. That regime is expected to take effect in 2027, and it leaves banks and credit unions, which are already subject to prudential regulation, outside its scope.
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Why it matters
Tokenized deposits keep money on a regulated bank’s balance sheet while adding blockchain settlement and programmable rules for when funds move. That distinguishes them from private stablecoins, which are separate digital assets backed by reserves held by an issuer. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has warned about risks tied to privately issued stablecoins, and the successful UK trial supports the central bank’s preference for keeping digital money inside regulated banks.
The competitive picture is now more explicit: the UK has moved from design work to live interbank transactions, while Canada’s six biggest banks have just started a joint exploration. Both outcomes point in the same direction — regulated deposit money gaining blockchain settlement features rather than being displaced by stablecoins.
What to watch
UK Finance said banks are already working on the next phase, with plans to issue three tokenized digital bonds in early 2027 that would use the same tokenized deposit system for trading, clearing and settlement. The Canadian banks, meanwhile, have said longer-term plans include opening their system to other deposit-taking institutions; Cointelegraph contacted CIBC for additional details and did not receive an immediate response.
Sources: Coinpedia, Cointelegraph
