The European Investment Bank has issued the first DLT‑native commercial paper on Clearstream’s D7 platform, in a €77.5m deal arranged by Citi and taken up by a group of European institutional investors.
The issuance marks a further step in the development of regulated digital market infrastructure, with the instrument later mobilised as ECB‑eligible collateral via Clearstream’s triparty service and the Eurosystem Collateral Management System. Market participants said the transaction shows how tokenised assets can now move end‑to‑end through Europe’s established plumbing — from issuance to settlement and refinancing.
Cyril Rousseau, Director General of Finance at the EIB, said the deal “illustrates the potential and appeal of applying DLT more broadly in financial markets”, adding that Eurosystem eligibility for tokenised securities is “a very welcome addition to the digital financial market ecosystem and important for investors”.
Citi, acting as sole dealer and issuing and paying agent, said the transaction highlights the benefits of integrating DLT into mainstream capital markets.
Dirk Jones, Head of Issuer Services, said the bank’s support “exemplifies the benefits of integrating distributed ledger technology in significant financial markets including commercial paper issuances to benefit both global investors and issuers”.
Clearstream said the deal demonstrates D7’s ability to support tokenised issuance at scale within a CSDR‑compliant framework. Jens Hachmeister, Head of Issuer Services & New Digital Markets, said D7 is “reinventing how securities are issued, managed, and traded”, with triparty connectivity to ECMS “unlocking greater speed, enhanced liquidity, and collateral mobility”.
The transaction attracted interest from a broad group of investors, including BIL, DekaBank, DZ BANK, Eurex Clearing, Union Investment and Volksbank Mittlerer Schwarzwald.
Investor participants described the deal as a milestone for digital markets, with Deka’s Viktor Banh calling Eurosystem collateral eligibility “a key step towards broader adoption”, and DZ BANK’s Matthias Bergner saying it marks “an important step forward for blockchain integration in institutional finance”.
