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The central banks of France and Luxembourg have used an experimental CBDC to settle a EUR100 million digital native bond.
The so-called Venus initiative saw the bond issued by the European Investment Bank under Luxembourg law, and settled using a tokenised representation of euro central bank money.
The EIB appointed Goldman Sachs, Santander and Société Générale as banking syndication to issue and distribute the digital native bonds.
The bond was issued and registered on a permissioned DLT and the subscriptions were cash settled using experimental CBDC tokens issued on a distinct permissioned DLT jointly operated by the central banks.
The partners also developed and deployed a trusted message exchange mechanism between DLTs, encompassing a Hashed Time lock Contract protocol, to allow for the simultaneous experimental CBDC tokens transfer and digital native bond delivery the same day of the issuance.
Nathalie Aufauvre, general director, financial stability and operations, Banque de France says the experiment “shows how digital assets can be issued, distributed and settled within the Eurozone, in a single day.
“The Venus initiative confirms that a well-designed CBDC can play a critical role in the development of a safe tokenized financial asset space in Europe.”
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