The UK Treasury has selected Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Morgan Stanley, NatWest, and RBC Capital Markets as joint lead managers for its first digital government bond, known as DIGIT. The government aims to issue this blockchain-based sovereign bond by the end of the first quarter of 2027.
The project utilizes the Digital Securities Sandbox, a regulatory testing environment. The bond will operate on the HSBC Orion distributed ledger platform. HSBC was previously appointed as the platform provider for the pilot on February 12, 2026, following a competitive tender process.
The initiative follows a procurement process that began with an Expression of Interest published on March 24, 2026. The contracts for the lead managers are effective from June 1, 2026, through May 2027, with the possibility of an extension.
The pilot aims to test distributed ledger technology across the entire lifecycle of sovereign debt, including issuance and settlement. In July 2026, HSBC and the London Stock Exchange Group signed a memorandum of understanding to focus on investor access and system interoperability.
