UBS, SBI, and DBS Completed Cross-Border Live Repo with Natively-Issued Digital Bond on Public Blockchain

UBS announced today that the company, Japan's SBI, and DBS have completed the world's first live repurchase transaction (repo) with a natively-issued digital bond on a public blockchain.

As part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)'s "Project Guardian", the transaction leverages regulated digital payment tokens to automatically and instantly settle a repo, digital bond purchase, and redemption across regulated entities located in three different jurisdictions, including Japan, Singapore, and Switzerland. It demonstrates how blockchain technology allows for the efficient, flexible, and cost-effective cross-border distribution and settlement of capital markets while enhancing liquidity management for institutions.

Mike Dargan, Chief Operations and Technology Officer of UBS Group, commented: "With this pioneering transaction, we proved the feasibility of executing a fully automated and instantly settled transaction across several jurisdictions by leveraging a public DLT network under a strict compliance framework. The flexible nature of our UBS Tokenize service, allowed our partners to easily adapt and leverage our innovative product framework and technology capabilities, to their infrastructure and transaction needs."

Fernando Luis Vázquez Cao, Chief Executive Officer of SBI Digital Asset Holdings, said: "At SBI Digital Asset Holdings (SBI DAH), we are building an institutional-grade digital asset ecosystem and are ready for its commercialization. This groundbreaking transaction demonstrates what can be done in Japan and cross-border, in providing innovative and efficient products and services to the market and clients. It is also an example of the strength of partnerships SBI DAH has with large global institutions and across the SBI group, with SBI SECURITIES as counterparty to the repo transaction and Shinsei Trust & Banking as the issuer of JPY stablecoin."

UBS, SBI DAH and DBS Bank are all important participants in the "Project Guardian", with other 12 contributors including Apollo, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Swift, UOB, Chainlink and LayerZero.

MAS announced that it is working with the financial industry to expand asset tokenisation initiatives and develop foundational capabilities to scale tokenised markets. These developments under Project Guardian will catalyse the institutional adoption of digital assets, with the aim of freeing up liquidity, unlocking investment opportunities, and increasing the efficiency of financial markets.