On Friday, the Bank of Thailand announced that it successfully sold 50 billion baht ($1.6 billion) in government savings bonds that leverage blockchain technology. The project aims to enable investors to receive bonds faster and reduce the operating costs of bond issuance.
There were two bonds that both targeted retail investors. Five billion baht ($160 million) of 1 Baht bonds were sold in amounts of as little as 100 Baht. This follows a successful trial three months ago using the Krungthai Bank e-wallet.
The second issue was a ‘Moving Forward’ bond, which raised 45 billion Baht ($1.44 billion) and had a 1,000 Baht minimum investment. This latter one involved three additional banks, Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank and Siam Commercial Bank.
Other organizations involved in the project included the Public Debt Management Office, Thailand Securities Depository and the Thai Bond Market Association.
In the future, the Bank of Thailand plans to extend blockchain to all other government bonds and target both retail and wholesale investors.
Two months ago, the Philippines Treasury successfully used blockchain for another retail treasury bond issuance, in that case for $3.9 billion.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Thailand has been exploring using central bank digital currency (CBDC) for various purposes through its Project Inthanon. One application is corporate payments and will integrate with Siam Cement’s blockchain procurement platform. It’s also planning to test working with retailers. And last year, it ran cross border payment tests with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
