UK’s FCA Issues Call for Input on Tokenized Gold

Noting the strong foundation afforded by London’s world-leading over-the-counter gold market, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority has today issued a Call for Input on the potential benefits and risks of gold tokenization in the UK precious metals markets.

As potential benefits, the FCA points to faster settlement, intraday collateral mobility, reduced reconciliation risk, capital efficiency, delivery-versus-payment arrangements, and improved interoperability between conventional and distributed-ledger infrastructures. The FCA also notes that tokenisation could also facilitate fractional retail investment and new product designs.

For potential risks, the FCA flags issues such as holders’ property and redemption rights, insolvency treatment, enforcement of security interests, settlement finality, custody and vault reconciliation, cybersecurity, financial-crime controls, and retail disclosures.

The FCA emphasizes that Regulatory uncertainty is particularly acute at the boundary of the collective investment scheme (CIS) and alternative investment fund (AIF) regimes.

The FCA asks respondents to address: (1) tokenisation’s benefits and risks for wholesale and retail markets; (2) interoperability and collateral requirements; (3) a possible CIS/AIF exclusion or exemption and necessary protections; (4) other areas requiring regulatory clarity; and (5) alignment with industry and regulatory initiatives. Responses are due October 23, 2026.