UBS Wealth Management announced on Friday that it has issued $50 million in blockchain digital loan instruments to high-net-worth people (HNWIs). A private placement was used to sell the six-month fixed-rate security tokens to investors in Hong Kong and Singapore.
“We received considerable demand from regional high net worth individuals and family offices for this debut issue, demonstrating their interest in digital securities,” said Amy Lo, co-head of UBS Global Wealth Management APAC.
The securities were issued by UBS‘s London branch under English and Swiss legislation. While UBS is the issuer, third-party issuers will be considered in the future. The project made use of a restricted version of Ethereum.
This follows last month’s $370 million blockchain bond offering on the SIX Digital Exchange.
Meanwhile, in Asia, a slew of digital securities and tokenization platforms are being established.
Singapore is a pioneer, with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) supporting numerous platforms such as ADDX and Marketnode. DBS, Singapore’s largest bank, has issued a tokenized bond through its platform, and SBI Digital Markets, based in Japan, has a presence in Singapore and is planning to issue digital bonds.
Japan is the home to various token issuing platforms. One of these is MUFG’s Progmat, which has already participated in a number of security token issuances, primarily in the real estate sector.
Nomura and ibet software co-founded the BOOSTRY blockchain platform for bond issuance. It is collaborating on green bond issuance with Tokyo Stock Exchange operator JPX.
The Hong Kong government is investigating blockchain-based green bonds.