Britain's financial regulator said on Monday it was seeking views on whether tokenising gold could improve how it is traded, transferred, pledged and held in UK markets.
The Financial Conduct Authority said it would seek views on whether tokenising gold could boost efficiency and competitiveness while maintaining market integrity and protecting consumers, with responses due by October 23.
The FCA said it was exploring gold tokenisation as part of its wider work on the future of tokenisation in UK wholesale financial markets, and was looking at the potential for distributed ledger technology to support new growth opportunities.
In May 2026, the FCA and the Bank of England published a joint call for input on the future of tokenisation in UK wholesale markets. Respondents raised gold specifically, reflecting London's position as the world's largest centre for spot gold trading. The FCA said that feedback prompted it to explore tokenised gold in greater detail.
Gold tokenisation could make gold easier to transfer and use across digital markets, particularly as wholesale collateral, the FCA said, adding that it could also support new forms of retail investment and product innovation.
London is home to the world's largest over-the-counter gold trading hub, where participants trade directly with one another rather than through an exchange.
"We want to understand whether tokenisation could strengthen the efficiency and competitiveness of UK wholesale markets while preserving the strengths of London's existing gold-market infrastructure," the FCA added.
(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru and Polina Devitt in London; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Toby Chopra)
