UK Taps HSBC Orion to Launch First Digital Gilt Pilot

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UK Government Taps HSBC Orion to Launch First Digital Gilt Pilot

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: February 12, 2026

Key Takeaways

The UK government has selected HSBC Orion for a pilot that issues digital gilts under the new DIGIT program;
The pilot tests short-term digital bonds inside the Digital Securities Sandbox and explores onchain settlement;
The Treasury views the pilot as a way to strengthen the business environment and assess cost and efficiency gains.

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UK Government Taps HSBC Orion to Launch First Digital Gilt Pilot

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The UK government has chosen HSBC’s tokenization system, HSBC Orion, to support a test run of digital government bonds.

These bonds, called “gilts", will be issued in a digital format as part of the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) pilot.

The Treasury first explained its plans in July 2025, when it outlined how it wanted to test blockchain technology in the process of issuing government debt.

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The update also highlighted the goal of building local systems that could support asset tokenization in the future.

The new pilot will issue short-term government bonds created and managed digitally from the start. The bonds will operate inside the Digital Securities Sandbox, which allows controlled testing of market tools that use newer technologies.

The DIGIT program aims to improve how these bonds trade after issuance and to make participation easier for more market participants. It will also test settlement directly on a blockchain network.

The pilot will run separately from the UK’s main debt issuance process, so it does not affect regular government borrowing.

Lucy Rigby, the UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury, linked the pilot to goals of strengthening the country’s business environment. She said, “We want to attract investment and make the UK the best place to do business".

She added that the pilot gives the UK a chance to see how distributed ledger technology could reduce costs and increase efficiency.

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