Slovenia just pulled off a major first. It's the first EU country to issue a sovereign digital bond. The bond is worth €30 million. That's about $32.5 million. It offers a 3.65% coupon. The Slovenian government announced this officially.
The bond matures on November 25, 2024. It was settled on-chain. This used the Bank of France's tokenized cash system. Digital bonds are different from traditional ones. They use blockchain tech. This makes them more transparent, efficient, and secure.
Digital bonds are catching on. In 2019, Société Générale issued a €100 million blockchain bond. Vonovia, a big German housing company, did it too. In 2021, they issued €20 million in digital bonds. Even China's central bank got in on the action that year.
Italy's not far behind. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo just did their first blockchain bond. The European Central Bank (ECB) is all over this trend. They're testing wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
In May, the ECB ran a test with Austria's central bank. They looked at tokenizing government bonds. BNP Paribas handled Slovenia's bond issue. They were the global coordinator and sole bookrunner.
"This is a big deal," says Robinson Rouchie, CIO at BNP Paribas. He's talking about systematic and quantitative investments. "We're all in on new tech and shaking things up in asset management."
BNP Paribas used their Neobonds platform for this. It's a private tokenization platform. They built it using Digital Asset's Daml and the Canton blockchain. It's pretty nifty. It handles everything from legal ownership to coupon generation.
These digital bonds could really shake things up. They make markets more transparent and efficient. Issuing and settling bonds gets faster, safer, and cheaper. This could mean more liquid markets and quicker transactions.
It's not just about the tech, though. This move signals a shift in EU finance. Slovenia's taking the lead in modernizing financial markets. They're using distributed ledger technology (DLT) to do it.
The ECB's been busy too. They've been running experiments on wholesale CBDCs. These tests are crucial. They help us understand how CBDCs could revolutionize financial markets. Slovenia's digital bond is just the latest step in this ongoing revolution.