Italian state bank tokenized $27 million worth of bonds on the Polygon network

The transaction was conducted as part of the European Central Bank’s testing of blockchain technology

19.07.2024 - 10:12

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3 min

Last updated on Aug 6, 2024

What’s new? Italian state-owned bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, jointly with investment bank Intesa Sanpaolo, have issued $27,2 million worth of digital bonds using the Ethereum blockchain-based Polygon Layer 2 (L2) network. The transaction took place as part of a European Central Bank (ECB) pilot aimed at finding new solutions for wholesale settlement on the blockchain.

Источник: X.com

What else is known? This was the first transaction of its kind since Italy introduced a financial technology law regulating the issuance and circulation of financial instruments in digital form.

The Cassa Depositi bonds maturing on November 18, 2024, offer a fixed coupon of 3,63% per annum. Intesa Sanpaolo was the only institutional investor to participate in the test.

The funds were transferred on the same day using the Bank of Italy’s tool called TIPS Hash Link, which enables interoperability between blockchains and traditional payment systems.

Niccolò Bardoscia, the head of digital asset trading and investments at Intesa Sanpaolo, believes that tokenization will impact not only bonds but all other asset classes in the coming years:

“This transaction demonstrates how public blockchains are a powerful technology for financial institutions, making transactions faster and safer.”

Earlier, it became known that Italy will tighten supervision over the crypto market and introduce fines of up to 5 million EUR for fraud.

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Polygon ranks fourth among blockchains in terms of the value of tokenized assets ($40,3 million), behind only Ethereum, Stellar and Mantle, according to analytics platform Dune.

On September 4, the Polygon team will introduce a new native token under the ticker POL, replacing the current MATIC. MATIC is currently ranked 26th in the overall cryptocurrency rankings with a capitalization of $4,7 billion and is trading at $0,5087, having lost 5% overnight. Weekly growth amounted to 2,1%.

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