BNP Paribas launches Slovenia’s 1st sovereign bond on Canton blockchain

Slovenia has made history by issuing the Eurozone’s first sovereign digital bond, utilizing the Canton blockchain platform for on-chain settlement.

Slovenia has issued the Eurozone’s first sovereign digital bond in an on-chain transaction facilitated by French banking giant BNP Paribas and utilizing the Banque de France’s tokenized cash solution.

In a press release on Friday, BNP Paribas said the issuance was part of the European Central Bank’s wholesale central bank money settlement experimentation program. The digital bond from Slovenia was issued using BNP Paribas’s Neobonds platform, which operates on the Canton blockchain.

“BNP Paribas is committed to contributing to the Eurosystem-led wholesale digital settlement solutions that will make bond settlement more efficient and secure,” BNP Paribas CIB global head primary markets, Frederic Zorzi said in the release.

BNP Paribas says Neobonds recorded the legal ownership of digital bonds, allowing network participants to manage the operational framework for issuance and trading bonds on secondary markets. The bond, with a nominal value of €30 million, features a 3.65% coupon and matures on Nov. 25.

Canton was launched in 2021 by financial technology company Digital Asset in a bid to create a privacy-enabled interoperable blockchain network designed to provide a decentralized infrastructure for institutional clients. Beyond BNP Paribas, the network participant’s list also includes Deloitte, Cboe Global Markets, Goldman Sachs, and Microsoft among others.