Hana Bank hops on Euroclear's blockchain, settles a $100M bond before lunch 🥪

South Korea's Hana Bank has issued a five-year, $100 million digital bond through Euroclear's blockchain-based platform, according to a Monday report from Yonhap News Agency. The transaction is the first digital bond issuance in South Korea to directly use Euroclear's distributed-ledger infrastructure.

The bank issued the foreign-currency bond using Euroclear's Digital Financial Market Infrastructure, with the bond's issuance, registration and settlement processed on a distributed ledger network. Settlement that previously took three to five business days was completed the same day, the report said, while the bond also connects to Euroclear's existing global settlement network, allowing investors to trade it through their existing accounts and trading systems.

Euroclear had not responded to requests for comment before publication, and Hana Bank could not be reached. Cointelegraph first reported on the development.

Euroclear launched its Digital Securities Issuance service in October 2023, settling a 100 million euro ($106 million at the time) digital bond issued by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank's lending arm. That three-year bond raised funds for sustainable development and was listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Euroclear has separately deepened its footprint in Asia through an investment in Marketnode, described as its first investment in the region. The Hana Bank deal now adds South Korea to the list of jurisdictions where Euroclear's blockchain-based settlement has been used for live bond issuance.