Tokenisation Could Add £33B a Year to the UK Economy

On July 9, 2026, Barclays and PwC published a joint report, "Rewiring Finance: Tokenisation as a Catalyst for UK Growth," estimating that accelerated adoption of tokenisation could unlock up to £33 billion in additional gross annual GDP for the UK by 2035, FF News reports.

According to the report's authors, roughly two-thirds of that benefit would flow beyond the financial sector itself and into the wider economy — through lower trade costs, improved access to finance, and new investment opportunities. The strongest near-term pull for tokenisation, the authors say, is in wholesale financial markets, where it can directly address frictions in settlement, liquidity management, collateral mobilisation and cross-border transactions, Investment Week notes.

Matt Hammerstein, CEO of Barclays UK Corporate Bank, said: "Tokenisation is moving from theory to real-world application. Done well, it can improve how capital flows through the economy, supporting investment, productivity and growth." James Moseley, Financial Services Partner and Digital Assets Lead at PwC UK, added: "The UK has a proud history as a pioneer in financial markets and in technological innovation. We're now facing the next frontier of finance."

The report points directly to a "narrowing window of opportunity": to secure its position as a leader in tokenisation, the UK needs to act decisively, or risk falling behind faster-moving jurisdictions such as Singapore and the UAE.

The upshot: if Barclays and PwC's estimate holds up, this isn't a niche fintech experiment — it's a macroeconomic effect on the scale of a major infrastructure reform. But realizing it depends on how quickly regulators and market participants can move tokenisation pilots into genuine industrial-scale use.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.