Laura WilesThe Chancellor has published details of the launch of the procurement process for the pilot Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) issuance, which was announced in the November 2024 Mansion House speech.
The Government hopes that the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) will allow the UK financial services industry to take advantage of significant growth opportunities. The pilot’s design features include DIGIT being digitally native, short-dated, issued on a platform operating within the Digital Securities Sandbox, and independent of the Government’s main debt management programme.
The delivery of the pilot issuance is being jointly managed by HM Treasury and the UK Debt Management Office (DMO), who hope that it will:
- enable the Government to explore how DLT can be applied to UK sovereign debt issuance processes; and
- catalyse the development of UK-based DLT infrastructure and the adoption of DLT across UK financial markets.
HM Treasury and the DMO are seeking responses to the questions in the Preliminary Market Engagement Notice by 13 April 2025. The questionnaire covers:
- the design of DIGIT;
- DLT platform features;
- data and security; and
- relevant experience of potential DLT suppliers.
Publication of the tender notice and the invitation to tender is expected in late Spring 2025, and the selection of the successful supplier in late Summer 2025.