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The Banque de France reportedly announced two new wholesale CBDC projects. The first will look at improving CBDC market liquidity management in decentralized finance (DeFi), such as via automated market makers. The second will focus on issuing and distributing tokenized bonds on a blockchain.

BNP Paribas structured and tokenized a project finance bond on the public Ethereum blockchain. The proceeds were used to fund solar energy projects through Électricité de France Energies Nouvelles Reparties (EDF ENR), which helps businesses and individuals install solar panels

"While State Street's digital arm is working on the ability to custody cryptoassets by the end of the year, tokenization remains a top focus for the business going forward as institutions continue to show interest in the segment. Using distributed ledger technology to tokenize funds and private assets, for example, to improve efficiency and accessibility is something the company is working on for 2023, according to Nicole Olson, a vice president of digital product development and innovation at the bank."

"Last year, the Deutsche Börse unveiled the launch of D7, a digital securities post-trade platform. It is now taking its second step by issuing digitally native securities in the fourth quarter. While the latest phase uses smart contracts, the securities are not yet blockchain-based, which is planned for a third phase."

The Canton of Zurich issued a CHF 100 million digital bond via the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) that will settle on December 1, 2023 using a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), marking the launch of the SNB's Project Helvetia pilot. The pilot will run to June 2024, and according to the SNB "does not constitute a commitment on its part to introduce wholesale CBDC on a permanent basis. Rather, the SNB aims to test the various models for settling tokenized assets". https://www.snb.ch/en/publications/communication/press-releases/2023/pre_20231102

The BIS Innovation Hub's Swiss Centre launched Project Tourbillon to explore how to reconcile central bank digital currency (CBDC) design trade-offs between cyber resiliency, scalability and privacy. For example, higher resiliency against cyber-attacks requires additional cryptography, which can slow down payment processing. Privacy must be weighed against the need to counter money laundering, terrorism financing and other illicit payments. Project Tourbillon aims to reconcile these trade-offs by combining proven technologies such as blind signatures and mix networks with the latest research on cryptography and CBDC design suggested by David Chaum and Thomas Moser in a 2021 Swiss National Bank working paper. The conclusions of this project will be relevant for both wholesale and retail CBDC systems. The goal is to finish the prototype by mid-2023.

UnionBank of the Philippines has raised ₱11 billion from its maiden digital peso bond offering - the first of its kind in the country. The 1.5-year bonds with a fixed per annum rate of 3.25% were issued through the digital registry/repository of Philippine Depository and Trust Corp. (PDTC) using infrastructure powered by STACS blockchain. The new digital infrastructure was kept interoperable with the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp (PDEx) Fixed Income Market's traditional trading to clearing infrastructure.

State Street Digital was involved in a transaction using Symbiont's Assembly enterprise blockchain to complete margin calculations for a live over the counter foreign exchange forward contract. This transaction marks its transition from pilot to production. By automating margin assessments, calculations can be made more regularly. If the movement of collateral used to support the margin requirements also happens automatically together, this can significantly reduce counterparty risks.

The National Securities Depository (NSDL), India's central securities depository, launched a blockchain-based security and covenant monitoring platform. The platform is expected to strengthen the monitoring of security and governance in the corporate bonds market to bring "further discipline and transparency to the market." The network will be maintained by two nodes, whom the NSDL and the Central Depository Services Ltd. (CDSL), a division of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, will control.

The BIS Innovation is launching a project to examine how the introduction of quantum-resistant cryptography will affect payment system performance, and investigate and test potential cryptographic solutions that can withstand the vastly improved processing power of quantum computers. Given the long-term sensitivity of financial data, this vulnerability must be addressed well in advance of the advent of quantum computing.

Crypto exchange Kraken will "immediately" end its crypto staking-as-a-service platform for U.S. customers and pay $30 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges it offered unregistered securities. Staking is a process in which investors lock up their crypto tokens with a blockchain validator with the goal of being rewarded with new tokens when their staked crypto tokens become part of the process for validating data for the blockchain. The SEC alleged that Kraken was offering investment contracts in exchange for investors' tokens, without providing the proper disclosures and safeguards required by US securities laws. https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-25

"We believe a version of decentralized finance (DeFi) called "Institutional DeFi", which combines the innovations of DeFi protocols with the safeguards of today's finance industry, has the potential for growth and transformative impact. The aim of this joint report by the Oliver Wyman Forum, DBS, Onyx by J.P. Morgan, and SBI Digital Asset Holdings is to help business executives understand the potential benefits of adapting decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols in the finance industry using tokenized real-world asset. This paper explains what industry participants need to do to achieve regulatory clarity, drive commercial adoption, and get the greatest benefits out of Institutional DeFi for their clients and themselves."

The Banque de France in partnership with HSBC and IBM demonstrated the use of a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) to enable transactions across borders and technology platforms whilst facilitating the lifecycle of digital assets and currencies in wholesale markets. A combined proof of concept tested the issuance and distribution of a CBDC, bond subscription in primary and secondary markets followed by coupon redemption, and execution of cross border and cross network payments. It proved that each transaction flowed correctly through the network of systems, automatically triggering the required events, whilst retaining visibility and control over the CBDC in circulation.

ABN AMRO issued a €450,000 bond on a public blockchain on behalf of APOC Aviation. The bond's entire issuance process was digital, including the preparation, placement and documentation. Ownership of the digital asset was recorded on the blockchain after payment was received, but payment took place on conventional payment rails. Investors store the digital assets in a wallet. https://www.abnamro.com/en/news/abn-amro-registers-first-digital-bond-on-public-blockchain

German government agency KfW is preparing to issue its first blockchain-based digital bond in the form of a crypto security in accordance with the German Electronic Securities Act (eWpG). The transaction is scheduled to be completed in summer 2024.