First digital sovereign bond to be issued by the United Kingdom in early 2027

On 15 July, the United Kingdom plans to launch its first digital sovereign bond, DIGIT, in early 2027, and is expected to be the first G7 country to issue government debt on a distributed ledger infrastructure. The bond will be issued through the HSBC Orion platform in pound sterling and will operate in a digital sandbox of the British Central Bank and the Financial Conduct Regulatory Authority. This is intended to test the viability of the block chain infrastructure in terms of reducing settlement time, reducing reconciliation processes and reducing operational costs. The Governor of the British Central Bank, Andrew Bailey, said that the Bank would promote future market-operated collateral qualifications for the bond. Currently, the British Treasury has not disclosed details of the size, duration, interest rate, investor access conditions and settlement assets。