In the second part of a series on digital instruments, Permjit Singh FCT highlights two examples of how corporates have issued digital commercial paper and bonds
There is a dearth of corporate funding in the digital space under standalone real-world environments. However, in this second article (you can read the first article here), we’ll look at one company that has issued digital commercial paper and at another that has issued a digital bond.
The transaction therefore marked a significant step towards connecting traditional money and capital markets with digital money and capital markets
In December 2025, Galaxy Digital Holdings issued $50m of US commercial paper (USCP) using Solana’s public blockchain, enabling end-to-end on-chain issuance and servicing of USCP.
JPMorgan Chase arranged the transaction and created the token representing the debt. Issue and settlement was in USD Coin – a regulated dollar-backed digital currency issued by Circle.
The transaction was significant because it signalled the confidence of bank and institutional investors to participate in digital debt security transactions, and, furthermore, to do so across a public, not private, blockchain.
Galaxy’s inaugural transaction opened a door to the vast USCP market and opened a door to investors (such as Coinbase Global and Franklin Templeton) willing to hold debt securities not just in traditional form, but also in digital form. The transaction therefore marked a significant step towards connecting traditional money and capital markets with digital money and capital markets.
Siemens issued its DB by partnering in a European Central Bank project.
Siemens issued its first DB in 2023, and followed a year later with a €300m issue that settled within minutes, far quicker than the T+2 required by its first DB and almost eliminating settlement risk.
Siemens used the Trigger Solution (TS) of Deutsche Bundesbank (the German central bank) for settlement of its bond. TS allows for the settlement of DLT-based financial transactions in central bank money, and acts as a technical bridge between the existing Eurosystem’s cross-border payments infrastructure (RGTS T2) and DLT platforms (see diagram below).
Treasurers should monitor the nascent digital funding landscape to identify the optimum moment when digital funding instruments should be added to their funding toolkit
“We are proud to be an active driver of further developments in this area and of the further digitalisation of the capital markets,” said Peter Rathgeb, corporate treasurer of Siemens.
“While digital bonds have been tried and tested by major financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank and the World Bank, it is fair to say that their adoption remains slow because of regulatory uncertainty, fragmented liquidity and certain legal hurdles,” said Cadwalader special counsel Assia Damianova.
Treasurers should monitor the nascent digital funding landscape to identify the optimum moment when digital funding instruments should be added to their funding toolkit.
Companies A and B agree to buy and sell an asset through a DLT platform (Company A could be a buyer of Siemens’ DB and Company B could be Siemens). Trigger (TS) creates a corresponding transaction payment instruction and sends a corresponding message to real-time gross settlement (RTGS).
In RTGS, Company A’s cash account is debited and Company B’s is credited.
A message of successful settlement (or failure) in RTGS is sent to Trigger. Trigger sends the message to the DLT platform and (if settlement was successful) the asset transfer occurs.
(Source: www.ecb.europa.eu)
Permjit Singh FCT
