The Philippines made history on Monday by conducting its inaugural sale of tokenized government bonds, signaling a potential widespread adoption of blockchain technology in the country's government debt market. According to a statement, the Department of Finance sold 15 billion pesos (approximately $270 million) in debt that will mature in November 2024. These bonds were issued to institutional investors with an annual interest rate of 6.5%.
The bonds were issued in the form of digital tokens and will be recorded in the Distributed Ledger Technology Registry, a blockchain-based registry under the Department of Finance. The agency will implement a dual registration structure, with the DLT Registry operating in parallel with the National Registry of Scripless Securities (NRoSS).