Today Dutch bank ABN AMRO announced it used a public blockchain to register a tokenized €5 million ($5.3m) green bond issuance on behalf of real estate firm Vesteda. The company will use the proceeds to refinance green assets. Germany’s Dekabank bought the full issuance.
ABN AMRO said the entire process was digital, including the preparation, placing and documentation. The bank also provided digital asset custody services.
This particular issuance used the Polygon blockchain as the registry. The bank has previous experience with Ethereum and Stellar. In January it helped another client APOC Aviation to issue a €450,000 bond using the Stellar blockchain.
It also was involved in the purchase of one of the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) digital bonds for the purpose of reselling it.
“We have gained valuable knowledge and experience on how blockchain can help us with financing solutions, and the advantages it offers,” said Frits Vervoort, Chief Financial Officer of Vesteda.
ABN AMRO partnered with Tokeny for the issuance and Fireblocks for the wallet.
At the moment, ABN AMO is also participating in the EU Blockchain Sandbox for a deposit token project.
Meanwhile, DekaBank is also very active in the digital securities space. Earlier this year, it was one of the investors in the Siemens digital bond on the Polygon public blockchain. It is the founder of SWIAT, a blockchain securities platform whose backers include LBBW and Standard Chartered. SWIAT also provides a digital securities registry, including for bonds, which so far has been on a permissioned blockchain.
Update: added Polygon for the registry
