According to a Bloomberg report today, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union’s (EU) bank, has hired three investment banks to explore a digital bond issuance that would use blockchain for registration and settlement. The banks are Goldman Sachs, Santander and Société Générale, with investor meetings to start April 15.
Both Santander (€20m) and Société Générale (€140m) have previously issued bonds on a public blockchain. The French bank has done two, with the second bond paid for using central bank digital currency (CBDC) in association with the Banque de France. France’s central bank is currently involved in perhaps the largest wholesale CBDC trial with eight consortia.
However, for both banks, the bonds were bought by internal group companies, and the legal issues were the biggest hurdles. Most bond issuances to date have used permissioned blockchains.
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