TradFi Banks Team Up to Create Digital Bonds Trading Platform on Blockchain

French investment bank Credit Agricole CIB and Swedish bank SEB, two stalwarts of traditional finance in Europe, have joined forces to develop a blockchain-based platform for digital bonds.

The platform will allow companies to raise capital by issuing digital bonds on a blockchain network with the aim of improving “efficiency and enabling real-time data synchronization,” according to a statement received by email. Users will be able to manage securities and raise capital through smart contracts.

The project joins others applying similar technology to conventional markets. Last week, Brussels-based Euroclear said it may release a platform for trading securities on a distributed ledger later this year. The banks’ statement didn’t say when the platform, named sobond, would start operating, and it didn't respond to a request for comment.

Paris-based CIB and Stockholm-based SEB are using a validation protocol called "Proof of Climate awaReness," which they say encourages users to minimize their environmental footprint.

Proof of Climate awaReness encourages energy consumption at a level that's comparable to non-blockchain systems, the release said. “Each node will be remunerated for its efforts according to a formula linked to its climate impact,” meaning the lower the environmental footprint, the larger the reward.

The environmental footprint is measured according to France’s APL Data Center and applied by certification expert SGS. The platform is the first use case operating under the Proof of Climate awaReness protocol in global capital markets, the statement said.