Philippines’ First Blockchain Digital Peso Bond Offering Raises $209M

UnionBank intends to use the funds to partially finance the acquisition of the domestic consumer banking business of global banking giant Citi

article-image

Unionbank tower in Manila, Philppines; Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • UnionBank has issued the country’s first blockchain-based digital peso bonds in a raise that generated $209 million
  • The oversubscribed raise came in 11 times the size the bank had anticipated when it signalled its intention to raise at least 1 billion in digital peso bonds

The UnionBank of the Philippines has raised P11 billion (US$209 million) after investors rallied behind the country’s first-ever blockchain-based peso bonds.

UnionBank’s digital bonds were issued through the digital registry and digital depository of the Philippine Depository & Trust Corp., local media reported Thursday. The bonds were kept interoperable with the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp fixed income market.

Singapore-based fintech company STACS was tapped to provide the blockchain-based digital securities trading infrastructure necessary to facilitate the offering. Meanwhile, HSBC and Standard Chartered were joint lead arrangers and book runners for the transaction.

The oversubscribed raise came in 11 times greater than the bank had anticipated when it signalled its intention to raise at least 1 billion pesos in its digital peso bond offering in May.

The publicly listed bank intends to use the funds to partially finance the acquisition of the domestic consumer banking business of global banking giant Citi. Late last year, UnionBank moved to acquire Citi’s consumer banking business for P55 billion (US$1 billion).

UnionBank treasurer and head of global markets Jose Emmanuel Hilado said the issuance represented a “building block” in the bank’s journey to embrace digitization and industry disruption, according to the reports.

In January, tech giant IBM and Swiss crypto custodian Metaco were selected by the bank to safeguard digital assets on its balance sheet. The crypto-friendly bank also joined a consortium of other domestic banks to use Visa’s blockchain-based payment platform back in February 2018.

The bonds contain a 1.5 year tenor with a fixed rate of 3.25% per annum and are listed for trading on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp marketplace.


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.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) represent low-hanging fruit in a massive market ripe for Web3-driven disruption. The global CDN market was valued at ~$28B in 2024, and is projected to surpass $140B by 2034, (18.75% CAGR) underscoring the immense demand for efficient content delivery.

article-image

With $30 million in funding and EverQuest’s creator at the helm, it’s possible, but not guaranteed

article-image

As Satoshi-era wallets saw over $8 billion worth of BTC on the move, Congress is gearing up for “Crypto Week”

article-image

Bitcoin’s runaway success was partly driven by Slashdot

article-image

Blockworks Research data shows that VC spending is back on the rise after a slow May

article-image

After rejecting a bid from the AI cloud-computing startup last year, Core Scientific agreed to be acquired in a deal expected to close by Q4 2025

article-image

Sponsored

Plume’s collaboration with TRON will unlock cross-chain RWA yield for one of the world’s largest blockchain ecosystems