Hong Kong eyes third digital bond sale

Hong Kong is planning its third sovereign digital bond sale and has appointed a group of banks to structure the deal, according to people familiar with ￰0￱ on size and timing remain undecided, but the move signals the city’s continued push into blockchain-based ￰1￱ launched, it would follow Hong Kong’s debut tokenized green bond in February 2023 and its multi-currency issuance a year later, both of which were well-received by institutional investors and seen as proof of blockchain’s potential in traditional debt ￰2￱ new requirement is also a sign of Hong Kong’s increasing aspiration to become a global hub for digital ￰3￱ officials have emphasized the need to create a “future-ready” bond market that can provide faster issuance, at a lower cost, and with greater transparency than the traditional paper-based ￰4￱ progressing with a third sovereign deal, the government also conveys its confidence in the technology and the investor ￰5￱ news follows increasing corporate interest.

A few days before the government’s action, two Chinese state-owned companies, Shenzhen Futian Investment Holdings and Shandong Hi-Speed Holdings Group, priced their own digital bonds in Hong ￰6￱ participation has not only lent credibility to the sector but underscored how rapidly demand is spreading beyond pilot programs for more regular financing ￰7￱ drive market growth Hong Kong’s digital bond market is not purely ￰8￱ least six other companies have already issued such bonds in the ￰9￱ year, some $1 billion was raised through digital bonds, and 70% of that total was in 2025 ￰10￱ in mainland China and elsewhere are starting to consider this financing ￰11￱ O’Neill, HSBC’s head of digital assets, said the bank had observed rising ￰12￱ bond offerings are also an increasingly common subject of inquiry among clients, a top law firm, King & Wood Mallesons, ￰13￱ $1.7 billion in issuances have already run on HSBC’s distributed ledger platform Orion ￰14￱ includes sovereign, financial, and corporate ￰15￱ bonds are conventional debt securities, only issued and traded on a ￰16￱ platforms, like HSBC Orion, and public blockchains, like Ethereum, can support ￰17￱ are still denominated in normal currencies such as the US dollar, Hong Kong dollar, or Chinese ￰18￱ makes them familiar to investors, even though the issuance form is ￰19￱ primary buyers are still the same old investors who buy ￰20￱ buy these bonds with printed ￰21￱ absence of broadly trusted stablecoins for settlement remains the reason why the crypto investor base is relatively small regarding exchange-traded ￰22￱ Kong reinforces support with stimulus To give the market a nudge, Hong Kong has introduced financial ￰23￱ eligible issuance is entitled to up to 2.5 million Hong Kong dollars (about $320,500) in ￰24￱ promoting both public and private issuers, Hong Kong is setting its sights on becoming a regional base for digital ￰25￱ settlement times, lower fees, and the transparency of the blockchain are among the ￰26￱ Asia, there is a high demand for digital ￰27￱ wanted to follow global trends, especially as the United States implemented pro-crypto ￰28￱ Kong’s digital bond push is not just a digital innovation in this ￰29￱ is also about ￰30￱ city seeks to consolidate its place as a premier international financial center as its financial system goes through rapid ￰31￱ up to Bybit and start trading with $30,050 in welcome gifts