ECB2026-09-30 10:17:35ECB launches Pontes to settle tokenized bonds in central bank moneyThe European Central Bank opened its Pontes settlement service on the morning of Sept. 21, 2026, giving financial institutions a production route to settle tokenized bonds and other wholesale assets in euro central bank money. The first wave includes 13 banks such as Deutsche Bank, Santander, Société Générale and the European Investment Bank, along with market infrastructure operators including Clearstream, Cashlink and SWIAT. Pontes is designed to connect distributed ledger technology, or DLT, market platforms with the Eurosystem’s TARGET services. The goal is to close a gap that has persisted in tokenized finance: assets can be issued, registered and transferred on ledger, but the cash leg often remains in a separate system. That split creates timing, reconciliation and principal risk issues. Pontes addresses the cash side by linking DLT-based asset transfers to central bank money settlement under the same transaction conditions. The ECB’s design supports two settlement routes. Participants can either use tokenized cash in a Eurosystem DLT environment or pay directly through T2 real-time gross settlement accounts. Legal finality remains anchored in T2 under the existing TARGET framework. The service builds on 2024 wholesale central bank money experiments that involved 64 participants across nine jurisdictions and processed close to €1.6 billion.250
India2026-09-14 11:11:58India launches tokenized corporate bond pilot with $1.07 billion already raisedIndia’s securities and central bank regulators have started a pilot called Demat 2.0 that moves corporate bond issuance and settlement onto a permissioned distributed ledger, targeting a corporate debt market worth about $620 billion. Three companies — REC, Larsen & Toubro, and IIFL Finance — have already raised a combined 102.5 billion rupees, or about $1.07 billion, through the system. REC issued India’s first tokenized corporate bond on Sept. 7, raising 50 billion rupees. The setup links tokenized bonds with the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale digital rupee and uses a unified market interface to enable simultaneous settlement of securities and funds. Smart contracts are also used to automate coupon payments and principal redemption. SEBI said tokenization does not change the bonds’ legal terms, credit ratings, or investor protection arrangements, and the framework may later be opened to secondary trading and retail participation.890
SEBI2026-09-11 12:10:31SEBI says three issuers raised $1.072 billion through tokenized corporate bondsIndia’s Securities and Exchange Board, or SEBI, said three issuers have raised a combined 102.5 billion rupees, about $1.072 billion, through tokenized corporate bonds under its Demat 2.0 pilot. The program uses distributed ledger technology to issue, hold and settle corporate debt. REC completed the first deal on Sept. 7, raising 50 billion rupees with participation from 18 investors. L&T raised another 50 billion rupees on Sept. 9, subscribed by four investors, while IIFL raised 2.5 billion rupees the same day from one investor. SEBI said Demat 2.0 records corporate bonds as native digital tokens on the depository’s distributed ledger and connects to wholesale central bank digital currency, or CBDC, through the Reserve Bank of India’s unified market interface. That structure enables atomic settlement of both bonds and funds and could cut post-issuance fund receipt time from the usual two to three days to the same day. SEBI also said tokenized bonds do not create a new category of corporate debt, and that ISIN, issuer obligations, coupon, maturity, covenants, ratings and investor rights remain the same as in conventional electronic corporate bonds. The first phase is limited to institutional issuance, with secondary trading and retail participation planned for later stages.870
India2026-09-11 12:13:42India’s SEBI says three issuers raised 102.5 million rupees in tokenized corporate bond pilotIndia’s Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, said on Thursday that three issuers have completed tokenized corporate bond sales under its Demat 2 pilot, raising a combined 102.5 million rupees, or about $107.2 million. The pilot uses distributed ledger technology to issue, hold and settle corporate bonds, with the bond leg and cash leg linked through the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale central bank digital currency via a unified market interface. REC Ltd. launched the first sale on Sept. 7 and raised 50 million rupees from 18 investors. L&T Ltd. raised a similar amount from four investors on Sept. 9, while IIFL raised 25 million rupees from one investor the same day. SEBI said the structure records corporate bonds as native digital tokens on a depository-owned distributed ledger and enables atomic settlement, cutting settlement risk tied to separate transfers of securities and funds. The regulator also said issuers can receive funds on the same day after bidding, versus the usual two to three days, and stressed that the pilot does not create a new category of corporate bond.860
India2026-09-11 10:33:24India launches tokenized corporate bond pilot with 10.25 billion rupees issuedIndia has launched a pilot for tokenized corporate bonds, with the first three issuers raising a combined 10.25 billion rupees, or about $107 million, through a new regulated market setup. The Securities and Exchange Board of India said the Demat 2.0 framework allows corporate bonds to be issued and held as digital tokens on a distributed ledger operated by the country’s statutory depositories, while settlement is handled through the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale central bank digital currency via the Unified Market Interface. The initial issuers were public-sector lender REC, engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, and non-bank lender IIFL. SEBI said the system lets issuers receive funds on the day of bidding, with atomic settlement removing the time gap between money and bond transfers and smart contracts automating interest and redemption payments. The regulator also said later phases of the pilot will add secondary trading through existing request-for-quote platforms and open access to retail investors, while keeping tokenized bonds within the country’s current legal and investor-protection framework.880
India2026-09-11 05:20:20India launches Demat 2 pilot for tokenized corporate bonds settled in wholesale digital rupeeIndia’s Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, has started the Demat 2 pilot this week, bringing tokenized corporate bond issuance onto distributed ledgers operated by regulated market institutions. Settlement in the pilot is being completed with the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale digital rupee rather than through a conventional process. The report says India’s corporate bond market is worth about $620 billion. State-owned power sector lender REC raised 50 billion rupees, about $56 million, through the system. Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro refinanced 50 billion rupees, while non-bank lender IIFL Finance raised 2.5 billion rupees, about $2.8 million. That puts the total funding volume at roughly 102.5 billion rupees. The bonds keep the same core features as conventional debt, including fixed coupon terms, maturity dates, and investor rights. What changes is the settlement process: tokenized bonds and the digital rupee used for purchase can settle at the same time, cutting transaction risk. Later phases are expected to add smart contracts for coupon payments and redemptions, open secondary market trading, and eventually expand access to retail investors. According to ChainCatcher, the pilot shows India introducing tokenization inside a financial system that remains tightly regulated while the country maintains a cautious stance toward private cryptocurrencies.820
Tokenized bon2026-09-05 16:03:08India's REC to Issue Up to Rs 5 Billion Tokenized BondsIndia's state-owned power financier REC Ltd has launched a tender for tokenized corporate bonds worth up to 5 billion rupees ($53 million), combining DLT with the central bank's wholesale CBDC for institutional investors. The bonds have a base size of 1 billion rupees, with a greenshoe option to increase to 5 billion rupees, maturing in May 2028. Settlement uses SEBI's DEMAT 2.0 e-wallet and atomic settlement via wholesale CBDC, on a permissioned environment.910
RedStone2026-09-01 15:49:12RedStone Offers 300-Millisecond Instant Exit for Tokenized High-Yield Bond FundRedStone plans to enable instant within-block exits for holders of Centrifuge's tokenized NYLIM US High Yield Bond Fund via off-chain auctions lasting ~300 milliseconds. Its Settle service is being integrated into the fund to address liquidity issues in tokenized assets, potentially boosting institutional adoption.1020
