Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA, Italy's state bank, has just completed a 25 million euro digital bond issuance, using the Polygon layer-2 blockchain solution.
According to the July 18 announcement from Intesa Sanpaolo, this is a transaction within the experimental framework of the European Central Bank (ECB), aiming to find new solutions in payment in central bank currencies for transactions. Wholesale transactions are carried out on the blockchain. At the same time, it was the first transaction in Italy carried out under the "FinTech" law, allowing the issuance and circulation of a number of financial instruments in digital form.
Cassa Depositi's 25 million euro bond batch will mature in 4 months, ending on November 18, 2024, with a fixed interest rate of 3.63%/year. Intesa Sanpaolo is the only institutional investor in this trial. Funds are settled on the same day through the Bank of Italy's “TIPS Hash Link” tool, which allows interaction between blockchain and traditional payment systems.
Source: Intesa Sanpaolo
“The first batch of crypto-bonds proves that public blockchain is a powerful technology for financial institutions, enabling faster and safer transactions,” Niccolò Bardoscia, Head of Financial Trading and Investment digital products at Intesa Sanpaolo, shared on LinkedIn on July 18. “Technological change will impact not just bonds but every asset class in the coming years,” he emphasized.
Source: Eric Balchunas
Meanwhile, Mr. Fabio Massoli, Director of Administration, Finance, Control and Sustainability of CDP, said that this is an event that marks an important step forward for CDP in innovating the capital market by pioneering the application of CDP. Using blockchain technology in bond issuance.
CDP representatives assessed that promoting new market ecosystems and implementing innovative, efficient and safe market infrastructure will bring added value to both issuers and investors, opens up new opportunities for other participants, including small and medium enterprises.
The trend of asset tokenization also received support from Larry Fink, CEO of financial giant BlackRock, who believes that securities will be converted to blockchain in the future.
The world's leading consulting organizations such as Boston Consulting Group say that the crypto asset market is expected to reach 16 trillion USD by 2030. While the Big 4 auditing firm, PwC is more optimistic, leading Global asset managers predict 5%-10% of total assets will be tokenized, creating a potential market worth up to 19.5 trillion USD, also by 2030.
Currently, more than $89 billion in crypto assets are in circulation on various blockchain platforms, according to data compiled by 21Shares on the Dune Analytics platform.
