Euroclear May Launch Digital Bond Settlement Platform This Year, Staffer Says

Euroclear, a Brussels-based firm that specializes in settling securities trades, may release a new platform for trading securities based on distributed ledger technology as soon as this year, one of its staffers said on Thursday.

The initiative builds on a recent trial led by Euroclear with the French central bank to use blockchain technology for bond transactions, with a central bank digital currency used as payment – extending the idea beyond a mere experiment to cover live transfers of security tokens.

“Euroclear is building and is finalizing the first minimum viable product of a DLT platform for issuance and settlement of digital bonds,” Bart Garré, a lawyer for Euroclear, told CoinDesk at an event in Brussels.

Garré said that Euroclear doesn't have definitive timeline but that the platform could be launched as soon as this year. The trading platform will link to legacy bond markets to ensure liquidity, he added.

The project doesn't necessarily depend on the changes brought by the European Union’s DLT pilot regime, which is designed to make trading stocks and bonds easier by using crypto-style technology, Garré said. That pilot program started last week. Garré, however, added, that Euroclear is facing legal assumptions, including what constitutes an account or a message to transfer funds, as well as concepts in property law.

“How do you transfer ownership? Do you need to change the law to be able to do that?” Garré asked, adding that to take collateral “can be done with a very minor change in the financial collateral law.”

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