For years, the stablecoin market has been a dollar story. Of the $305 billion in stablecoins in circulation as of January 2026, over 99% are denominated in US dollars. That asymmetry is not just a currency statistic — it is a structural risk for European financial markets, a competitive disadvantage for EU-based institutions, and a potential sovereignty problem for European regulators. A consortium of twelve of Europe's largest banks just decided to do something about it

Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Nationwide, Santander, and Monzo are all involved in building tokenised banking infrastructure. This is not a crypto experiment. It is the financial system founders already use, being upgraded from the inside. When most founders hear the word tokenisation, they think of raising money. A token that represents shares in their company, issued through a regulated platform, distributed to investors. That is one part of the tokenisation story, and i

The UK’s biggest banks are quietly transforming the financial system that startup founders rely on. Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Nationwide, Santander, and Monzo are all involved in building tokenised banking infrastructure. This is not a crypto experiment or a speculative venture. It is the existing financial system being upgraded from within, using digital tokens to represent traditional assets like sterling deposits. Many founders associate tokenisation with fundrai

Monument Bank, a Bank of England-regulated institution serving the UK’s mass-affluent market, has announced plans to tokenise up to £250 million in retail customer deposits on Cardano’s privacy-focused Midnight network, making it the first UK-regulated bank to bring retail deposits onto a public blockchain.