According to CoinDesk, French banking giant Societe Generale has completed its first tokenized green bond issuance on the Ethereum network. The bank issued €10 million ($10.8 million) worth of digital green bond tokens, registered by SG-FORGE, Societe Generale's digital asset-focused arm. Traditional finance institutions AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) and Generali Investments purchased the tokenized bonds. The net proceeds of the bond sale will be used to finance or refinance sustainable activities.
The issuance highlights the growing appetite of traditional financial institutions for using blockchain-based technologies, including tokenization and stablecoins. Investment management firm 21.co predicts that the market value of tokenized assets could reach $10 trillion as more real-world assets migrate to blockchain plumbing. The digital format of the issued bonds provides greater transparency and traceability, as well as faster transactions and settlements, according to the bank.
AXA IM, the asset management arm of French insurance giant AXA, purchased €5 million worth of bonds on behalf of AXA France using the euro-pegged stablecoin EURCV helmed by SG-FORGE as part of a joint blockchain experiment. The initiative aimed to experiment with the use of a stablecoin as a settlement asset to purchase a digital bond, according to Laurence Arnold, AXA IM's head of innovation and strategic initiatives.
