UK financial regulator seeks views on tokenising gold

Sept 14 (Reuters) - Britain's financial regulator on Monday said it was seeking views on whether tokenising gold could improve how it is traded, transferred, pledged and held in the UK markets.

• The Financial Conduct Authority said it will seek views on whether tokenising gold could boost efficiency and competitiveness, while maintaining market integrity and protecting consumers until its October 23 deadline.

• The FCA said it was exploring gold tokenisation in line with its wider work on the future of tokenisation in UK wholesale financial markets and was looking at the potential for distributed ledger technology (DLT) to support new growth opportunities.

• In May 2026, the FCA published a joint call for input with the Bank of England 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 this 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 via 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 amd Toby Chopra)