French multinational financial conglomerate Societe Generale has issued its first digital green bond on a blockchain network.
According to a Reuters report, the Paris-headquartered banking group has nearly $11 million worth of senior preferred unsecured bonds with maturity of three years on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. The bank added that AXA Investment Managers and Generali Investments “fully subscribed the related security tokens through private placement.”
AXA Investment particularly acquired and spent €5 million worth of Societe Generale’s euro-denominated ERC-20 stablecoin called EUR CoinVertible (EURCV). The bank plans to spend the proceeds on projects aimed at environmental benefits, including renewable energy and low-carbon transportation.
Societe Generale announced its EURCV stablecoin in April 2023, hoping to bridge the gap between traditional capital markets and the digital asset ecosystem. However, the announcement has been met with skepticism from Stasis, a firm behind euro-pegged stablecoin EURS, which highlighted potential risks and the “single point of failure” problem associated with commercial bank-issued stablecoins.
Stasis was not the only company that questioned Société Générale’s crypto venture, as other analysts also pointed out that the functionality of EURCV’s smart contract relies on a centralized registrar (probably one controlled by the bank).
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