GDF developed this response on behalf of our board as part of our ongoing commitment to support the work of HMT, the DMO, and UK Authorities, as well as the GDF mission to support the development of best practices and governance standards across the digital finance industry.
The attached letter summarises our feedback to the consultation report and our key points of feedback are:
1. It is critical for DIGIT to be future-proof and part of a broader and scalable transformation of financial markets infrastructure rather than a stand-alone experiment;
2. We urge the UK to act quickly in the development of digital financial infrastructure in order to support its legacy as a global financial centre and maintain its position as a leader in innovation;
3. In order for DIGIT to scale it must have both legal and functional parity with traditional gilts;
4. We believe critical design factors for DIGIT are interoperability, issuance size, maturity profile, and regulatory treatment;
5. A liquid and accessible secondary market is essential for DIGIT to operate as a credible extension of the UK sovereign debt programme;
6. We remain committed to the belief that industry and policymakers should prioritise common standards, interoperability, and scaling for the UK’s digital market to flourish; and
7. We support HMT, the DMO, and Bank of England (BoE) in exploring future opportunities for a DIGIT pilot and the DSS to use regulated stablecoins as on-chain settlement assets to support the overall growth and development of the digital finance ecosystem.