**Italy Completes $27.2M Digital Bond Issuance Using Polygon**

Italy's state-owned bank, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA, has wrapped up a $27.2 million digital bond issuance on Ethereum's layer-2 Polygon, in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo. This marks a significant milestone under Italy's new FinTech decree law, which regulates digital financial instruments.

- **Trial by ECB**: The transaction was part of a European Central Bank trial exploring blockchain solutions for central bank money settlements.

- **Bond Details**: The bond matures on Nov. 18, 2024, with a 3.63% fixed annual coupon.

- **Settlement**: Cash flow was settled via the Bank of Italy’s "TIPS Hash Link" tool, ensuring smooth interoperability between blockchain and traditional payment systems.

Niccolò Bardoscia from Intesa Sanpaolo highlighted the potential of public blockchains to revolutionize financial transactions, making them faster and safer. However, opinions on blockchain's scalability for large-scale asset tokenization remain divided.

Market forecasts vary, with Boston Consulting Group predicting a $16 trillion tokenized asset market by 2030, while McKinsey estimates $2 trillion. Currently, over $89 billion of tokenized assets are on blockchain rails, with Polygon ranking fourth in tokenized value.