Hana Bank issues South Korea’s first digital bond using Euroclear’s blockchain

Hana Bank issued a $100 million digital bond through Euroclear’s blockchain settlement platform, completing the transaction the same day, the Yohnap Agency reported Monday.

This was the first time a Korean financial institution directly used the international depository’s distributed ledger infrastructure, the bank said, ranked second in South Korea with nearly $500 billion in client assets under management. Euroclear is a Brussels-based financial services company and one of the world’s largest central securities depositories (CSDs).

It shows how tokenization could make capital markets faster and more efficient. In this case, a traditional multi-day bond settlement process was replaced with same-day settlement on a distributed ledger.

"The $100 million digital bond issuance and implementation of T+0 settlement represent a significant step beyond simply diversifying our funding channels, as they bring blockchain technology into the capital market," a Hana Bank official said, according to the Korea Herald. "We will continue to adopt advanced infrastructure and explore innovative funding solutions that meet the needs of global investors."

Hana Bank and Euroclear did not immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for information.