# UK Banks Complete First Live Tokenized-Deposit Customer Transactions

By John Kim

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/23709
Published: 2026-09-24T12:14:26.000Z
Updated: 2026-09-24T12:14:26.000Z

Seven UK banks completed their first live customer transactions using tokenized sterling deposits on Sept. 24, testing programmable bank money that can lock and release funds when transaction conditions are met.

Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander took part in the Great British Tokenised Deposit initiative. The pilot covered two remortgage completions and one consumer marketplace purchase from a private seller.

For the remortgage transactions, funds were reserved and released automatically when each deal completed.

In the marketplace purchase, the buyer’s funds remained locked until the goods changed hands. The three transactions used infrastructure developed by Quant for the GBTD initiative.

Tokenized deposits represent commercial-bank funds in digital form while preserving conventional deposit protections. The initiative is examining programmable sterling deposits across consumer payments, mortgage transactions and future digital-asset settlement.

“These live transactions show how tokenised deposits can deliver practical, real-world benefits,” said Jana Mackintosh, managing director of payments and innovation at UK Finance.

Ryan Hayward, managing director of digital assets at Barclays, said, “Moving from testing into live transactions shows how tokenised deposits could help make payments more efficient.”

“These transactions are real money moving on UK infrastructure, not an experiment,” said Gilbert Verdian, founder and CEO of Quant.

The pilot demonstrates how conditions attached to ordinary bank money can automate the release of funds after a required step is completed. Future pilots are expected to connect tokenized customer money with digital assets and test delivery-versus-payment-versus-reserves settlement.