The European Investment Bank plans to harness the power of blockchain to sell bonds, potentially boosting use of the digital-ledger technology as a tool for the region’s debt market.
The European Union’s investment arm hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Banco Santander SA and Societe Generale AG to explore a so-called digital bond in euros, which would be registered and settled using blockchain, according to information from a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak about it.
Investor meetings for the inaugural sale will start April 15 and continue for some weeks, the person said.
The EIB has often been at the forefront of innovation in Europe’s debt capital markets, being among the first to issue green and sustainability bonds, as well as debt benchmarked against a new euro short-term rate called ESTR. The move comes after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the institution she leads could launch a digital currency around the middle of this decade.
A spokesperson for the EIB declined to comment further when contacted by Bloomberg News.
Not Mainstream
A number of issuers globally including the World Bank, China Construction Bank Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and National Bank of Canada have been experimenting with blockchain-based issuance in the past few years, but its use in debt markets is still far from mainstream.
The technology used for verifying and recording transactions that’s at the heart of cryptocurrencies has faced hurdles to wider adoption, and the pandemic has caused delays in some projects.
Blockchain has a longer history in loans and Germany’s Schuldschein debt market. Automaker Daimler AG was the first to sell a 100 million euros ($119 million) of Schuldschein using blockchain in 2017. Telefonica SA’s German unit also used blockchain in early January to raise a 200 million-euro loan.