Britain doesn’t lack ambition, at least when it comes to international league tables. Elements of the government and civil service have announced plans over the last two years to position the country as a world leader in AI, AI safety, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, fintech, life sciences, semiconductors, green finance, offshore wind, critical minerals, creative industries and – if you take DEFRA’s export figures at face value – artisan cheese.

We can now add tokenisation to that list. In the autumn, when laying out a plan through a consultation paper, Simon Walls, an executive director at the FCA, said: “The UK has the opportunity to be a world leader here and we want to provide asset managers with the clarity and confidence they need to deliver.”

The question is whether the UK is aiming at the right target or fighting the last war. 

The narrow definition of tokenisation – a mirrored, digital version of a pre-existing security – can leave the old plumbing intact: transfer agents, clearing houses, the full reconciliation overhead between on- and off-chain records. Firms like Société Générale, through SG-FORGE, are already executing natively digital issuances on public blockchains, skipping the mirror entirely. The UK’s tokenisation players aren’t behind on technology. Many are behind on articulating where they sit on that spectrum – and in a market where regulators, investors and partners are still forming their mental models, the firms that define the category will own it.

The Bank of England’s Synchronisation Lab is one of the most promising initiatives, bringing together established institutions and start-ups to test how synchronised settlement could reshape wholesale market infrastructure. But even the Lab’s progress struggles to cut through outside its immediate participants. Other groupings – HM Treasury’s Technology Working Group, UK Finance’s GBTD project – face the same visibility problem. The infrastructure is being built. The narrative lags behind.

The Communication Gap

But when the end goal is a network effect, every announcement should show how your work connects to the larger market shift – not just what you built, but why it matters to the firms building alongside you. Ensure press releases have quotes from partner institutions or, where possible, people who represent industry bodies or governments. While there will be rules about explicit endorsements, these outside voices can provide context.

When it comes to channels, don’t just rely on the standard press wire. Engage the community – whether that’s specific LinkedIn groups, targeted industry newsletters, or direct briefings with analysts who understand the nuance of the UK’s evolving digital property regimes.

The Right Questions

Here are ten questions that should shape how both legacy firms and digital-native start-ups communicate in this market. For both groups, the key question is how to develop a strong point of view. The buzzwords “tokenisation” or “digital assets” are no substitute for a business plan. 

Five questions for the legacy giants: Traditional institutions have the balance sheets and the trust, but must prove they’re not just engaged in innovation theatre:

• Where is the exit from the sandbox? We’ve seen enough pilots. When does tokenised liquidity become a standard feature of your prime brokerage?
• How do you handle the “Cannibalisation” talk? If on-chain settlement is truly cheaper and faster, how are you explaining the dip in legacy fee income to your shareholders? Exchanges and clearing houses face this most acutely – their entire business model is the one being disintermediated.
• Is “digital” just a wrapper? Issuing a security on-chain is a neat technical milestone, but if you can’t articulate why it’s fundamentally better for the end investor than the status quo, the digital element is just marketing spin.
• Can you keep the “A-Team”? High-performing developers want to build, not wait for six months of committee approval. How are you protecting your tech talent from the siren song of start-ups?
• What’s the sovereignty play? As the UK’s Digital Gilt (DIGIT) and other central initiatives loom, how do you ensure you remain a vital intermediary rather than a footnote in a central bank’s ledger?

Five questions for digital asset natives: Startups have the tech and the vision – and different hurdles.

• Is this a replacement or a supplement? Are you helping TradFi build digital asset businesses, or trying to build parallel systems? And why?
• Where is the “Boring” Utility? Can you show how tokenisation fixes the pipework of cross-border trade or supply chain finance?
• Is it really institutional grade? Many claim to be ready for the big banks, but their custody solutions haven’t been stress-tested by a trillion-dollar asset manager. 
• How do you scale without becoming a bank? The more you comply, the more you look like those you aimed to disrupt. Where does your “edge” live in an increasingly regulated environment?
• Who owns the relationship? In the race to modernise UK financial infrastructure, are you a partner to the banks or their eventual replacement?

Conclusion: Do not return to stealth mode

Ambitious goals aren’t achieved overnight. There are months – sometimes years – of quiet building. But markets don’t wait for you to finish. If you go silent, someone else fills the space with their own framing, milestones and leadership.

The answer isn’t to announce more. It’s to have a thesis. Firms that build genuine thought leadership around a clear, defensible position – on where tokenisation is headed, on what the UK’s regulatory framework enables, on why their approach is structurally different – stay visible and credible through the long middle stretch between launch and market. 

The ones that retreat into stealth mode end up re-introducing themselves to a market that moved on.

Jon Schubin runs content for Cognito