The UK hired HSBC Orion to run its DIGIT project, which looks into blockchain bonds. The goal is to make things more efficient, lower costs, and make things safer.
The United Kingdom’s government has appointed HSBC’s tokenization platform to power a pilot issuance of digital government bonds, known as “gilts,” marking the latest step in its push to modernize sovereign debt markets using blockchain technology.
HM Treasury has appointed HSBC Orion to facilitate the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) pilot issuance, according to a Thursday announcement.
The Treasury published a DIGIT pilot update in July 2025, outlining plans to explore blockchain applications in UK sovereign debt issuance and to support the development of domestic tokenization infrastructure.
Lucy Rigby, the UK’s Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said, “We want to bring in investment and make the UK the best place to do business.” This was in response to HSBC Orion’s DIGIT appointment. She went on to say that the trial will assist the UK figure out how to use distributed ledger technology (DLT) to make businesses more efficient and lower their costs.
Objectives of the Digital Gilt Instrument pilot
The goal of the DIGIT pilot is to make it possible for short-term government bonds that are native to the digital world to work in the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS).
The trial is meant to help the secondary market grow and make it easier for more people to use, with on-chain settlement, and it will run separately from the UK government’s main debt management program.
Rigby stated, “This is exactly the kind of financial innovation we need to keep the UK at the top of the global capital markets. I’m looking forward to working with HSBC and others to make DIGIT happen.”
HSBC’s track record in digital bond issuance
HSBC Orion has made it possible to issue at least $3.5 billion in digitally native bonds around the world since it started in 2023. This includes the European Investment Bank’s first digital pound bond and a multi-currency bond worth $1.3 billion issued by the Hong Kong government.
Patrick George, HSBC’s global head of markets and securities services, said, “The UK is a home market for us and the sixth largest economy in the world.” He went on to say, “HSBC is happy to help the gilt market continue to grow, as well as the UK economy as a whole.”
The UK government chose HSBC Orion to be the platform supplier for DIGIT and Ashurst, a multinational law firm, to handle the pilot’s legal needs.
Etay Katz, head of digital assets at Ashurst, stated, “Our team has a lot of experience with digital assets transactions, and we look forward to working with HSBC and supporting the government as it takes this big step for UK capital markets.”