Doha Bank Completes $150M Instant-Settlement Digital Bond on Euroclear DLT

Doha Bank completes $150M instant-settlement digital bond on Euroclear DLT Doha Bank has issued a $150 million digitally native bond that settled instantly on Euroclear’s permissioned distributed ledger platform — a clear sign that regulated DLT networks are becoming the go-to rails for institutional tokenized debt. The Qatari lender listed the notes on the London Stock Exchange’s International Securities Market and achieved same-day settlement via Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (DFMI), a permissioned DLT system run by the central securities depository. Standard Chartered acted as sole global coordinator and sole arranger, overseeing structuring, execution and distribution of the deal. The transaction highlights why many banks and regulators in the Middle East and Asia prefer controlled DLT environments over public blockchains for mainstream debt issuance. Permissioned platforms like Euroclear’s offer controlled access, legal finality and seamless integration with existing custody and settlement systems — features crucial to institutional investors and market infrastructure providers. Issuers gain tokenization benefits such as T+0 (same-day) settlement and automated record-keeping, while remaining compatible with established market standards. “Doha Bank’s debut digital bond issuance underscores the tangible, real-world efficiencies that cutting-edge digital infrastructure is delivering for capital markets,” said Salman Ansari, Doha Bank’s global head of capital markets. Sebastien Danloy, Euroclear’s chief business officer, added the deal “demonstrates that same-day execution and settlement are achievable through a neutral, regulated DLT infrastructure that aligns with established market standards — reducing friction and time while maintaining the level of assurance expected by issuers and investors.” That preference for permissioned systems doesn’t preclude selective use of public blockchains. Some use cases — notably DBS’s tokenized structured notes issued on Ethereum — show public networks can be appropriate where broader investor access, programmability and a more open market design are priorities. But for core bond and custody workflows, regulated DLT is winning adoption. Other institutional DLT efforts underscore the trend toward embedding tokenization into existing market plumbing rather than building parallel crypto-native systems. HSBC’s Orion platform has been used for sovereign and corporate digital bonds across Hong Kong, mainland China and the Middle East and is designed to connect directly with post-trade infrastructures like Euroclear, Clearstream and Hong Kong’s Central Moneymarkets Unit. JPMorgan’s Onyx, now operating under the Kinexys brand, enables bank-issued debt and commercial paper to be tokenized with near-instant settlement. Standard Chartered said the deal reflects rising client demand for digital issuance. As more issuers and regulators move tokenization beyond pilots into live markets, permissioned DLT platforms that interoperate with established custody, listing and settlement systems are emerging as the dominant architecture for institutional digital debt issuance. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news