Slovenia is the first country of the European Union that spends digital government bonds

• Slovenia has issued the first digital government bond in the EU, a bond worth 30 million euros ($ 32.5 million), which is handled by the bank of the bank of France.
• BNP Paribas coordinated the emission using the Neobonds platform on the Canton Blockchain.

Slovenia is a pioneer in the field of digital finance in the EU

Slovenia wrote history by the first member of the European Union issued a digital government bond. The groundbreaking emission worth 30 million euros ($ 32.5 million) represents significant progress in the use of blockchain technology for state debt titles.

The digital bond offers a coupon of 3.65 % and is due on November 25, 2024. The processing took place on-chain via the Token Care system as part of the money processing program of the European central bank (ECB).

The development of digital bonds

In contrast to their traditional counterparts,

digital bonds use blockchain technology to improve the transparency, efficiency and safety of their emissions and trade processes. In recent years, the introduction of digital bonds has increased, with several countries recording remarkable emissions.

In 2019, for example, the Société Générale emitted a green bond worth $ 10 million on the Ethereum blockchain. And in 2021 the German vonovia emitted digital bonds worth 20 million euros ($ 24.3 million) on the Stellar-Blockchain.

The ECB is a pioneer in researching digital financial innovations and has carried out various attempts and experiments with solutions for digital central bank currencies (CBDC). In May the ECB completed its first test with the Austrian Central Bank, in which the tokenization and the simulated delivery-against-payment processing of government bonds were examined.

Significance of the emission of digital bonds in Slovenia

The edition of the digital government bond by Slovenia is an important milestone in the modernization of the financial markets. The Slovenian government emphasized the importance of these first transactions and experiments with tokenate central bank money in wholesale and considered it decisive steps towards more transparency and efficiency on the financial markets.

bnp paribas was important at this emission and acted as a global coordinator and sole bookerner. The bond was issued to Neobonds, the private tokenization platform of BNP Paribas, which was created by DAML by Digital Asset and the Canton Blockchain. This technology facilitates the efficient management of digital bonds, including the recording of legal property, coupon creation and support of all life cycle events.

The future of digital bonds on the financial markets

digital bonds have the potential to significantly improve the transparency and efficiency of the financial markets. The emission and processing processes can be made faster, safer and cheaper by using the blockchain technology. These improvements can lead to higher market liquidity and shorter transaction times, which benefits issuers and investors.

Robinson Rouchie, CIO for systematic and quantitative investments in BNP Paribas, emphasized the importance of this development and explained: “The edition and placement of the first digital government bond of the euro zone is an important milestone in the financial sector. Our participation underlines our commitment to use new technologies and groundbreaking changes in the asset sector to drive forward. "

The global financial world faces a profound change, since more and more countries and financial institutions explore the potential of digital bonds. Slovenia's pioneering step should inspire other EU countries to follow this example and to accelerate the introduction of blockchain technology in the global debt market and beyond.