ABN AMRO announced today that it issued a €450,000 bond on a public blockchain on behalf of APOC Aviation, an aircraft parts company. The Dutch bank used its experience buying and reselling one of the European Investment Bank’s blockchain government bonds and is working with clients in the Netherlands and Germany on additional tokenized bonds.

The entire bond issuance process was digital, including preparation, placement, and documentation.

Ownership of the digital asset was recorded on the blockchain after payment was received. We assume this means there was a conventional payment but you didn’t get a response in time for publication. Investors store the digital assets in a wallet.

ABN AMRO received wallet help from tokenization firm Bitbond and cryptocurrency firm Fireblocks, which is best known for its custody technology.

One of the benefits of using blockchain for bond issuance is to reduce issuance costs.

“This updated digital solution to provide leveraged financing to our medium and large business clients fills a gap between traditional bonds and crowdfunding,” said Edwin van Bommel, head of strategy and innovation at ABN AMRO. “Thanks to blockchain, it is highly efficient and very easy for the client to use.”

The bond market is seen as one of the key areas of opportunity for institutions and several banks have already entered the fray. However, only Societe Generale, Santander, and BNP Paribas have managed public blockchain issuances, and in most cases, on behalf of their own bank. The exceptions were the issue for the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the BNP Paribas project finance bond for EDR ENR. Now ABN AMRO is one of the first institutions to issue a corporate bond on a public blockchain on behalf of a client.

Many others are launching blockchain bond issuance platforms. SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) launched one of the largest tokenized bond issues yet, a CHF 375 million ($370 million) hybrid bond for UBS where investors can opt for either the native SDX CSD or the SIX securities depository. conventional SIS.

Goldman Sachs introduced its digital asset tokenization platform with the second €100 million bond from the EIB, this time on a permissioned blockchain. HSBC is preparing to launch its Orion DLT-based bond tokenization platform and the EIB could use it for a GBP tokenized bond.