The FCA has held early talks with industry participants, including several large banks, about how it might regulate tokenized gold, but it declined to comment. The FCA and Bank of England have said only that further tokenized-collateral policy is coming “later this year.” Meanwhile, HSBC’s existing tokenized gold product in Hong Kong has already processed more than $2.2 billion across over 276,000 transactions.
FCA Held Early Talks With Banks on Regulating Tokenized Gold
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has held early discussions with industry participants, including several large banks, about how it might regulate tokenized gold, according to people familiar with the regulator’s plans. The FCA declined to comment when asked about the talks.
Those discussions sit inside a broader push, led jointly by the FCA and the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority, to bring distributed-ledger technology into UK wholesale markets. Earlier this year, the FCA and the PRA said they planned.
“set out further policy for consideration later this year on how tokenised collateral can operate under the existing regulatory framework.”
Why London Is Racing to Modernise Its Gold Market
FCA documents already put a marker down on where gold fits into its collateral thinking. In a joint call for input with the Bank of England, the regulator said it is
“reviewing tokenised collateral eligibility, recognising the benefits of using tokenised Money Market Funds (MMFs) and tokenised gold as uncleared over-the-counter (OTC) collateral.”
That consultation closed for responses on 3 July 2026. A separate policy statement the FCA issued in April, covering tokenized fund registers, does not touch gold at all.
The city handles about 70% of global gold trading volume. Asian gold hubs are moving on their own London’s stakes here are specific: tinfrastructure in the meantime: Hong Kong is building a gold-clearing system aimed at becoming Asia’s top bullion hub, set to launch in July 2026, and Hong Kong and Shanghai have described plans to work together on it: one government official called it “the dawn of a new chapter… in which Hong Kong and Shanghai join forces to shape the future of global gold markets.”
HSBC’s Tokenized Gold Token Already Has $2.2 Billion Behind It
While regulators work out the rules, at least one bank has already built a live product. HSBC has offered a tokenized gold product to retail customers in Hong Kong for just over two years; the tokens represent ownership rights in physical gold bars held by the bank as the backing asset, as banks such as Wells Fargo also explore tokenization through Wells Fargo tokenized deposits. HSBC said more than $2.2 billion of the product has changed hands across over 276,000 transactions since launch.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total traded since launch | $2.2bn+ |
| Transactions | 276,000+ |
| Market | Hong Kong, retail only |
| Launched | ~2024 |
“would no longer be constrained by bar sizes, vault locations or fragmented settlement mechanisms.”
HSBC’s product runs in Hong Kong’s retail market, not the UK wholesale collateral space the FCA is reviewing. The two are structurally different use cases, though both rest on the same broader tokenization concept seen across financial markets, including Tokenized Google stock, where traditional assets are represented through digital tokens.
| Date | Gold price |
|---|---|
| January 2026 (record high) | ~$5,595/oz |
| August 10, 2026 (current) | ~$4,336/oz |
What’s Next: A £33 Billion Push and an Unconfirmed Timetable
The tokenized gold talks are one piece of a larger UK effort to digitise wholesale finance. Chris Woolard, the Treasury’s newly appointed wholesale digital markets champion, has said the UK could gain a £33 billion economic boost if it accelerates that shift. Whether tokenized gold becomes a formal, named part of that framework, with specific banks publicly attached to it, is still unresolved. The FCA and PRA’s only on-record commitment is to set out “further policy… later this year” on tokenized collateral generally, and there is no confirmed gold-specific timetable; the claim that banks are already at the table currently rests on people familiar with the discussions rather than an on-record regulatory statement.
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