tGBP: What digital sterling needs to support real use

A local currency needs local onchain infrastructure

Tokenised GBP is building for a market that still sits in the shadow of dollar stablecoins. In conversation with Paula Pettit, VP of Strategy and Growth at Range, Josh Reyes described tGBP as the only live GBP-backed stablecoin in the UK. He said it was live on six blockchains and traded on centralized exchanges including Kraken and Wirex. The scale gap with dollar stablecoins is significant, but Reyes's case for digital sterling starts with the work a local currency needs to do, rather than with an attempt to displace the dollar.

That distinction matters because the UK combines deep capital markets, an established banking sector and a large fintech ecosystem. Dollar stablecoins can serve international liquidity, while sterling remains the unit in which UK companies pay employees, rent and other operating costs. Reyes put the principle plainly: "you really need, I think, a local stable to, serve local use cases." A digital pound can therefore complement dollar and euro stablecoins across cross-border corridors while giving sterling-denominated activity its own onchain settlement asset.

The treasury case is immediate. Reyes noted that many UK crypto companies hold treasury assets in dollars or USDC while their liabilities remain in pounds. He estimated that the dollar had fallen by roughly 14% against sterling over the prior year, leaving those companies with the same local costs and less purchasing power from their dollar holdings. As he explained, "for a lot of the crypto native companies, it makes a lot of sense to reallocate their treasury onchain." Digital sterling gives those companies a way to align the currency of their assets with the currency of their obligations without leaving onchain infrastructure.

tGBP sees three connected areas of demand: sterling settlement for local and cross-border payments, institutional and corporate treasury allocation, and GBP-denominated yield and lending products. Reyes also linked the opportunity to the growth of tokenized real-world assets, including equities and bonds that could support sterling-denominated credit. These uses reinforce one another. Settlement creates movement, treasury balances create available liquidity and sterling products give companies and individuals a reason to keep capital onchain. Range's view is that the strongest case for a non-dollar stablecoin is operational. The asset earns its place when it reduces currency mismatch, settles a real payment or becomes the cash leg for a product users already need.

Settlement depends on liquidity and useful sterling products

Stablecoin settlement can move faster than traditional rails, but speed does not remove the commercial requirements around liquidity and price. Reyes described local and cross-border payments as an important target for tGBP while acknowledging how effectively traditional finance already serves the market. The challenge is to make liquidity and spreads work at the scale of transactions worth hundreds of millions. In his words, "there's obviously clear benefits using stablecoins. Right? There's instant settlements." The remaining work is to make those benefits viable under real payment volumes.

The first integration step is relatively contained. tGBP operates a mint engine for one-to-one minting and redemption between GBP and tGBP, and Reyes said its API design took inspiration from the developer experience established by Circle. The exact integration depends on whether a company is aggregating issuers, processing cross-border payments or connecting tokenized assets. Still, the path from fiat sterling to onchain sterling can move quickly: "We've seen people do it in a matter of days, especially kind of the small agile teams."

From there, the local stablecoin becomes one component in a broader flow. Reyes described tGBP as the route for bringing local currency onchain before converting it into USDC or another asset, depending on the use case. Range's view is that this is where stablecoin operations become a control problem as well as an integration problem. A finance team needs to understand the fiat funding leg, the mint or redemption, the onchain movement and the final asset as one connected settlement record.

The product layer around digital sterling is still being established. Reyes pointed to demand for GBP-native crypto yield through DeFi vaults and looping strategies, along with crypto-backed and real-world-asset-backed loans. He also distinguished temporary promotional rates from yields that can remain sustainable relative to gilt returns. He said promotional rates could reach 6% to 8%, while the gilt rate was about 3.75%, making sustainable returns harder to deliver. A product that prices credit, collateral and returns in sterling creates activity tied to the underlying currency. The important signal is the emergence of sterling-denominated products that can attract repeat use, deepen liquidity and give tGBP a purpose beyond passive balances.

Regulation is part of the operating model

Range reads tGBP's regulatory history as evidence of how closely issuance and operations are connected. Reyes said issuer BCP Technologies became FCA-regulated in 2021, then spent about 14 months under regulatory scrutiny for tGBP, entered the regulatory sandbox and graduated last summer. He described the token as backed one-to-one by GBP, with reserves held in cash and short-term UK government debt. Liquidity and duration management determine the mix within the boundaries described by current consultation papers.

The UK framework was still being finalized at the time of the conversation. Reyes expected the formal application process to open around September or October, following further work by the FCA, the Bank of England and participating issuers. He also pointed to stablecoin sprints and another regulatory sandbox for prospective issuers as evidence of the work underway. His assessment was constructive because regulators were consulting the industry and incorporating responses before final rules took effect. That process gives issuers time to prepare, although it also leaves open questions that affect capital planning, reserve management and investment. Range's view is that, for an issuer already trading in the market, preparing for the final framework is an active operating requirement.

Reyes contrasted this approach with MiCA, which he associated with a rapid increase in euro stablecoin issuers and fragmented liquidity. He argued that any special reserve rules for a systemic stablecoin need a defined threshold. An issuer cannot model revenue, funding or future reserve requirements when systemic status is determined case by case without a clear trigger. His conclusion was direct: "regulation is the biggest unlock." Clear rules can give large institutions the confidence to commit capital and assign operating teams to onchain products.

Range's view is that regulated stablecoin operations should begin with the applicable regulatory and reporting requirements. Companies can then translate those requirements into transaction controls, orchestrate the risk and compliance providers they already use, and run monitoring, reconciliation and reporting from the same financial record. For a sterling issuer or institution supporting tGBP, that sequence connects reserve obligations, mint and redemption activity, counterparty controls and examiner-ready evidence. Regulation becomes part of day-to-day execution rather than a separate review after funds have moved.

Real volume will prove the digital sterling market

tGBP does not expect one sterling stablecoin to own every use case. Reyes welcomed the prospect of additional UK issuers because different teams can test institutional treasury, cross-border payments and retail demand in parallel. Competition can show which segments have sustained demand, while proper backing and credible banking partners remain essential in high-trust jurisdictions. It can also concentrate each issuer on the segment where its product, relationships and execution are strongest. That is useful in a market where the relative scale of treasury, payments and retail demand has yet to be proved.

Institutional behavior is also changing. Reyes contrasted earlier innovation projects, designed largely to generate headlines, with banks now hiring dedicated crypto and DeFi specialists to build onchain products. The market has developed beyond an isolated innovation function, and teams increasingly understand the infrastructure they want to build. He summarized the shift this way: "But now it's, hey. We actually want to put real money and do real work on chain." Regulatory clarity can turn that intent into funded products and partnerships.

For tGBP, success is measurable in usage. Reyes set out an ambition to remain the leading GBP stablecoin, reach at least one billion tGBP onchain and partner with more large institutions by the end of the following year. The broader objective is larger than token supply: "ultimately, we want, non USD stablecoins such TGP to have real use cases, and not just use cases, real volume on chain." That standard puts settlement activity, liquidity and product adoption ahead of issuance announcements.

Reyes also expressed a clear preference for stablecoins over central bank digital currencies and tokenized deposits. He acknowledged why banks want to retain deposits and lending liquidity, and suggested tGBP could act as a clearing asset if separate bank-issued tokens created fragmented connectivity. His preferred outcome remained "a stable coin led future than a tokenized deposit and definitely not CBDCs." Whether the market follows that path will depend on which model delivers usable connectivity across banks, smaller institutions and onchain markets.

Build digital sterling on a single operating record

Range's view is that digital sterling reaches meaningful scale when every fiat movement, mint, redemption, onchain transfer and counterparty decision can be controlled and reconciled as one operation. Range gives companies operating across stablecoins and fiat the financial record, policy controls and reporting infrastructure to do that: See how Range supports stablecoin operations.

About tGBP

Tokenised GBP provides tGBP, a sterling-backed stablecoin for payments, onramps, offramps and tokenized-asset settlement. BCP Technologies is registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority as a crypto asset firm and offers Tokenised GBP as a product. Learn more at tgbp.io.

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