政府债券代币化：评估和路线图（英）2025

BIS Bulletins are written by staff members of the Bank for International Settlements, and from time to timeby other economists, and are published by the Bank. The papers are on subjects of topical interest and aretechnical in character. The views expressed in them are those of their authors and not necessarily the viewsof the BIS. The authors are grateful to Douglas Araujo, Bryan Hardy, Pablo Hernández de Cos, AnnekeKosse and Ilaria Mattei for comments, and to Nicola Faessler and Danielle Ritzema for administrativesupport.The editor of the BIS Bulletin series is Hyun Song Shin.This publication is available on the BIS website (www.bis.org).©Bank for International Settlements 2025. All rights reserved. Brief excerpts may be reproduced ortranslated provided the source is stated.ISSN: 2708-0420 (online)ISBN: 978-92-9259-872-3 (online) Iñaki AldasoroInaki.Aldasoro@bis.orgPriscilla Koo WilkensPriscilla.KooWilkens@bis.orgTokenisation of government bonds: assessment and roadmapKey takeaways•Government securities play a crucial role in the financial system – as a savings vehicle forhouseholds and firms, collateral in a range of transactions and a means of pricing assets.•Despite their early stage of development ($8 billion in issuance to date), tokenised bonds havelower bid-ask spreads than conventional bonds and comparable issuance costs.Governmentbond tokenisation could improve market efficiency and support financialinnovation, but its success depends on addressing regulatory and infrastructure challenges.Experiments with tokenisation are gaining momentum.1tokenisation can help to enhance the efficiency of markets, reduce settlement risk, broaden investmentaccess and spur the creation of new financial services. Similar to key monetary innovations of centuriespast, the tokenisation of money and financial assets has the potential to expand the universe of possiblecontracting outcomes to support economic growth.2need for scalable platforms, regulatory clarity and robust infrastructure.At $80 trillion, government debt stands as the largest and most critical global asset market, and acornerstone of the financial system. Government bonds provide a safe asset for investors, and underpinmonetary policy implementation, collateral management and financial stability. Bond markets are apromising setting for tokenisation, as current trading and settlement practices involve a complex web ofintermediaries, messaging instructions, reconciliation efforts and money flows. The tokenisation ofgovernmentbonds could enhance liquidity by reducing transaction times and increasing marketaccessibility. It could also potentially support collateral management and monetary policy operations byenabling the integration of bonds with other tokenised assets, allowing for automated collateral transfersand efficient use of assets in repurchase agreements (repos) or central bank operations.This Bulletin explores the case for tokenised government bonds. While bond tokenisation is on therise in both number and volume of issuances, the market remains in its infancy. We build a data set ofprivate and government tokenised bonds. Our sample features 39 tokenised bonds, of which 24 have beenissued by corporations and 15 by governments or supranationals.3their conventional (ie non-tokenised) counterparts with the same issuer, currency and coupon type. Wefind suggestive evidence of lower bid-ask spreads and comparable issuance costs and yields. While gains1Tokenisation can be defined as the process of generating a digital representation of traditional assets on a programmableplatform (Aldasoro et al (2023)).2See BIS (2023) and Shin (2024) on the evolution of record-keeping and the promise of tokenisation.3Our data set includes bonds with data on the issuer, issuance size, date, cost, currency, coupon rate, maturity and settlementinfrastructure. 1Jon FrostJon.Frost@bis.orgVatsala ShreetiVatsala.Shreeti@bis.orgBy enabling the contingent execution of actions,However, significant challenges remain, notably theWe compare tokenised bonds with Giulio CornelliGiulio.Cornelli@bis.orgUlf LewrickUlf.Lewrick@bis.org BIS Bulletin• 2BIS Bulletinare modest, they hint at much greater potential, as small gains in large volume markets can add up quickly.We close with a discussion of pros and cons of different design options for bond tokenisation.The critical role of government securities in the financial systemGovernment bond markets are a cornerstone of the global financial system. They serve as a critical sourceof financing for governments, a trusted savings vehicle for households and businesses and the key locusof central banks’ monetary policy operations. They provide the safest and most liquid form of collateral insecured money markets and derivatives, and act as a benchmark asset to price risk across the economy.Bid-ask spreads are generally narrower for government bonds than for other asset classes, reflecting theirlow credit risk and large investor base – especia