UK tokenized bond pilot; BlockFills halt; BlackRock on Uniswap
News
Key developments in crypto today include the UK government selecting HSBC Orion for a tokenized gilt pilot; crypto lender BlockFills pausing client deposits and withdrawals last week amid market volatility; and BlackRock listing its BUIDL tokenized U.S. Treasury fund on Uniswap in its first formal move into decentralized finance.
UK appoints HSBC for pilot of tokenized government bonds
The United Kingdom has chosen HSBC’s tokenization platform to support a pilot issuance of digital government bonds, or “gilts,” as part of efforts to modernize sovereign debt markets with blockchain technology.
HM Treasury appointed HSBC Orion to facilitate the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) pilot issuance, according to a Thursday announcement.
The Treasury issued a DIGIT pilot update in July 2025 outlining plans to explore blockchain use cases in UK sovereign debt issuance and to help build domestic tokenization infrastructure.
Lucy Rigby, UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said the initiative aims to attract investment, make the UK a competitive place to do business, and assess how distributed ledger technology (DLT) could improve efficiency and lower costs for firms.
The DIGIT pilot targets digitally native, short-dated government bonds operating within the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS).
The program is intended to support secondary market development and broader access with onchain settlement while remaining separate from the UK government’s core debt management operations.
Source: Lucy Rigby
Crypto lender paused withdrawals amid last week’s Bitcoin decline
Institution-focused crypto lending platform BlockFills said it suspended client deposits and withdrawals last week as Bitcoin and the wider crypto market declined.
The halt, which remains in place, was intended to protect clients and restore platform liquidity, the firm said in an X post on Wednesday.
During last week’s sell-off, Bitcoin fell a further 24% from $78,995 to around $60,000.
BlockFills said the suspension was implemented “in light of recent market and financial conditions.”
The company added that management is working closely with investors and clients to resolve the situation quickly and reestablish liquidity.
It also said clients have been able to continue trading with BlockFills to open and close positions in spot and derivatives* markets and in select other cases.
Source: BlockFills
The pause potentially affects about 2,000 institutional clients, including asset managers and hedge funds, that generated more than $60 billion in trading volume on the platform in 2025.
The crypto liquidity and lending venue serves only investors with crypto holdings of $10 million or more.
BlackRock brings tokenized Treasury fund to Uniswap in first DeFi move
BlackRock announced its initial formal step into decentralized finance by making its tokenized U.S. Treasury fund available on Uniswap, a move seen as a milestone for institutional participation in DeFi.
According to a Wednesday announcement, the USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) will be listed on the Uniswap decentralized exchange, enabling institutional investors to buy and sell the tokenized security.
As part of the arrangement, the asset manager will also purchase an undisclosed amount of Uniswap’s governance token, UNI, the announcement said.
Following the news, UNI’s price rose as high as $4.2993, according to CoinMarketCap. As of 21:12 UTC, 24-hour trading volume was up 461%, with $879.4 million in tokens traded.
The collaboration is being facilitated by tokenization firm Securitize, which partnered with BlackRock on BUIDL. Fortune reported that trading will initially be limited to a select group of eligible institutional investors and market makers before broadening over time.
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