Barclays is quietly exploring a move into blockchain-powered settlement, Bloomberg reports — and it’s talking to potential tech providers about building a platform that could handle payments and other post-trade processes.
According to people familiar with the matter, the UK lender’s discussions include designs that could support stablecoins and tokenized deposits — putting it in direct competition with banks like JPMorgan and others that are already deploying decentralized-ledger tech for banking services. If realized, the platform would let Barclays settle transactions on a distributed network, a model proponents say boosts transparency, trims intermediaries and speeds up settlement times.
This isn’t uncharted territory for big banks. JPMorgan launched JPM Coin in 2019 to enable tokenized, dollar-denominated deposits on a ledger, and HSBC has more recently enabled tokenized deposits as part of its blockchain payments expansion. Those moves highlight a broader industry push to move traditional financial plumbing onto programmable, token-based rails.
Barclays has not publicly commented; CoinDesk’s request for comment went unanswered, per the report. Bloomberg first disclosed the bank’s exploratory talks. Observers will be watching whether Barclays chooses to build in-house, partner with a vendor, or buy technology — and how any new system would link with existing payment networks and regulatory frameworks.
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