New report outlines eight actions to unlock £3-5bn for the Scottish economy
Scotland must act swiftly to leverage the growing adoption of digital assets and tokenisation within the finance sector, according to a new report from the Scottish Digital Trust Centre of Excellence. The Centre, based at Edinburgh Napier University, has published a briefing paper for senior stakeholders in government, industry bodies, and private sector firms, assessing the risks and opportunities of digitisation in global financial markets. The report estimates that adopting its recommended changes could generate between £3-5bn for the Scottish economy.
The paper, titled “Scotland’s Roadmap for Digital Assets and Tokenisation”, recommends eight actions to help Scotland and its financial sector capitalise on the shift towards digitised and tokenised financial assets. These include publishing a Scottish Government policy statement, commissioning a tokenisation readiness assessment, and establishing a digital assets taskforce. Other recommendations involve renewing the Digital Trust Centre’s funding mandate, launching a digital assets investment proposition, producing an annual Scotland Digital Finance Competitiveness Report, increasing Scottish Enterprise support for digital assets and tokenisation, and commissioning a Scotland-specific economic-impact and jobs analysis.
Peter Ferry, CEO of the Digital Trust Centre and Visiting Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University, commented, “Scotland’s financial services industry stands at a watershed. A tide in global finance is turning on tokenisation, and those who move with it will prosper. This report is a call to action, grounded in evidence. It charts a course; the answers will come and we will navigate it together. What we need now is resolve, and the coordination to act as one, to secure jobs and build the businesses of the future here in Scotland, rather than watch them carried to other shores.”
Investment assets and payments are increasingly moving onto digitised systems, utilising blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Experts predict that while less than one dollar in every $10,000 of the world’s investments is currently held in tokenised form, this could rise to one in every $6 by 2035. This transition is expected to significantly impact Scotland’s financial services sector, which manages £500bn in assets and employs around 151,000 people.
Sarah Forbes, Emerging Opportunities Lead for Financial Services at Scottish Enterprise, stated, “Scotland’s strengths in asset management, FinTech and digital innovation give us a strong foundation to capture the capital investment opportunities created by digital assets and tokenisation. Building on these capabilities can attract further investment, support innovation across the financial services sector and help secure high-value activity in Scotland.” Nick Jones, Founder and CEO of Zumo, added, “Scotland has a huge opportunity to help drive tokenised capital markets, with Edinburgh emerging as a critical hub within the wider UK digital asset framework.”
The report, prepared by Digital Trust Centre CEO Peter Ferry and Edinburgh Napier University visiting academic James Ball, included contributions from Sarah Forbes and Daniel Taylor, Head of Policy at Zumo. It was also reviewed by senior figures at banking and digital asset firms. The Digital Trust Centre describes digital asset technology as a ‘generational upgrade’ for the finance industry, noting that Edinburgh asset management firm Baillie Gifford recently launched the UK’s first natively tokenised investment fund.
Alongside the report, the Digital Trust Centre is launching its third Innovation Challenge, focused on tokenisation and digital assets, in partnership with Morgan Stanley and Zumo. The Challenge invites companies to develop and test solutions against a real industry problem, offering grant funding to successful teams. Pre-registration for the challenge is currently open, ahead of its full launch in early October.
