World Bank rolls out first digital bond issuance on Euroclear

The World Bank said it has raised $105 million through a three-year digital bond to finance its sustainable development initiatives

article-image

T. Schneider/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

The World Bank has initiated the first issuance of digital securities on Euroclear’s newly launched Digital Securities platform.

Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (D-FMI), a platform based on distributed ledger technology, facilitates the establishment, issuance and settlement of international securities digitally, all under English law, according to a Tuesday press release.

The World Bank said it has raised 100 million euros ($105.9 million) from the three-year digital bond, dedicated to backing its sustainable development projects, with the bond making its debut on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

The bond’s release involved Citi overseeing the issuance and payment processes, TD Securities serving as the dealer and Euroclear Bank functioning as the Central Securities Depository for the issuer. 

R3, the developer behind the platform, said that the Corda permissioned blockchain was used for the bond issuance.

The World Bank first experimented with blockchain bonds in 2018 by raising around $73 million.

Other experiments with blockchain-based bond issuance, such as those by Société Générale, have used public Ethereum.

Asset tokenization is transforming finance by making transactions more efficient and reducing costs through digital processing. 

It democratizes investment by breaking down high-value assets into purchasable tokens, thereby broadening market access. 

This process enhances liquidity, turning illiquid assets like real estate or art into easily tradable forms. Additionally, it transcends geographic restrictions, creating a round-the-clock global market and facilitating smoother international transactions.

“The integration of DLT in asset issuance is a critical step forward in the evolution of our ecosystem’s digital capabilities, as we continue to deliver on our goal of becoming a fully digital and data enabled Financial Market Infrastructure,” Lieve Mostrey, Euroclear’s CEO, said in a statement.

Boston Consulting Group forecasts that by 2030, the global industry for tokenizing illiquid assets could expand to $16 trillion, accounting for 10% of the world’s gross domestic product.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Nillion_DeSci_Report_Template.png

Research

Nillion’s Monad Integration is poised to catalyze the next phase of DeSci’s evolution by eliminating key privacy bottlenecks. This synergy allows researchers, institutions, and DAOs to exchange sensitive data and insights securely while managing governance and payments onchain.

article-image

More crypto IPOs and M&A in the coming weeks could depend on bitcoin’s price, VanEck’s research head says

article-image

Bitcoin launched 16 years ago, but investors still cannot agree on how to value blockchains

article-image

Martin Masser wants to see more US builders using TON, though the TON Space Telegram wallet isn’t available there just yet

article-image

Sui Foundation told Blockworks it’s not currently supporting Seed, and Mysten Labs only helped Seed with its smart contracts.

article-image

Bitcoin hit this little-known milestone days before Pizza Day

article-image

Blockworks Research also thinks that net new assets (NNAs) are a metric to keep an eye on