Thai Central Bank, the Bank of Thailand, recently finished issuing government-backed digital bonds using blockchain technology to reduce costs of operation and improve efficiency.
The Bank announced on September 11 that 50 billion Baht of these government bonds had been sold in just one week. This project is titled the DLT (Distributed Ledger) Scripless Bond Project and is a collaboration between the Thai Central Bank and seven other financial institutions – Public Debt Management Office, Thailand Securities Depository Co., Ltd, Thai Bond Market Association, as well as selling-agent banks, including Bangkok Bank, Krungthai Bank, Kasikorn Bank, and Siam Commercial Bank.
Two types of government bonds were on sale – ‘1 Baht bonds’ and ‘Moving Forward bonds’ – the former raising 5 billion Bahts, and the latter raising 45 billion Bahts.
Prospectively, the Bank of Thailand seeks to use blockchain-powered digital bonds for retail and wholesale markets to fully meet the demand of all stakeholders.
South-east Asian Blockchain Wave
With the rise of DeFi tech in the Asian quadrant of the world, there is observable gradual change in the financial sector. Specifically, the financial ecosystem is teeming with blockchain startups, and central banks are constantly exploring the use of digital currency (CBDC). In fact, the Bank of Thailand itself used CBDC for various purposes through its Project Inthanon.
Already, governments like cryptocurrency/#:~:text=South%20Korea%20Will%20Now%20Regulate,Thursday%2C%20after%20years%20of%20deliberation.&text=The%20Act%20regulates%20the%20crypto%20industry.”>Korea and Singapore have already issued regulations over blockchain-backed cryptocurrency trading, proving their interest in using decentralized tech for public welfare.
