NRW BANK, the development bank owned by the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has issued €100 million worth of blockchain-based bonds, making it one of the biggest public sector moves into digital securities in Europe.
The two-year bond was issued on the Polygon (POL) blockchain and registered through the infrastructure of Cashlink Technologies, a cryptocurrency securities registrar licensed by Germany’s financial regulator, BaFin.
This is NRW BANK’s first bond issuance as a fully digital, crypto security under Germany’s Electronic Securities Act (eWpG), which allows bonds to exist solely on the blockchain without the need for physical certificates.
Deutsche Bank, DZ BANK and DekaBank participated in the issuance as joint lead managers.
“This is not just a technical milestone; it’s a sign that public financial institutions are now ready to move beyond blockchain pilot projects and integrate these systems at scale,” said Cashlink CEO Michael Duttlinger.
The eWpG law, which came into force in 2021, provided the legal basis for recording securities on distributed ledger technologies (DLT) in Germany, which has one of the largest capital markets.
*This is not investment advice.