Today Wirtschafts und Infrastrukturbank Hessen (WIBank), the Helaba owned German development bank, issued a registered bond on a public blockchain. It was settled in a delivery versus payment transaction (DvP) using the Bundesbank’s Trigger solution, which initiates settlement on the TARGET2 payment system. The €5 million transaction was part of the Eurosystem’s wholesale DLT settlement trials.
The simultaneous exchange of the digital bond and cash eliminates counterparty risk, and the use of central bank money reduces the credit risk.
“The experience gained from this project opens up new possibilities for the further development of existing financial products in conjunction with innovative technologies. This minimizes risks and optimizes processes for both us and our investors,” said Christian Forma, Head of Treasury at WIBank.
Cashlink provided the tokenization and settlement infrastructure, with Helaba acting as cash settlement agent. Bankhaus Metzler was the investor, with Deloitte helping with the implementation and Annerton providing legal advice.
As with many Cashlink issuances, the transaction used the Polygon public blockchain.
The ECB’s wholesale DLT settlement trials offer three settlement solutions. They include Germany’s Trigger solution, Italy’s TIPS Hashlink solution which settles on the TIPS payment system, and France’s wholesale CBDC.
Yesterday a director of the ECB announced plans for a European Ledger and confirmed the central bank is considering plans for after the wholesale DLT settlement trials end next month.
Update: added blockchain and issuance amount
