Société Générale issues the first digital bond in the U.S. through blockchain

Société Générale successfully completed its first digital bond issuance in the U.S. market. The bond was issued on the Canton Network blockchain using tokenization features provided by Broadridge Financial Solutions, registered as a security token, and issued by SG-FORGE, a subsidiary of Société Générale focused on digital assets. The buyer is the well-known trading firm DRW, and the bond is a short-term floating-rate debt instrument, with the interest rate linked to SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate).

This is one of the first digital securities issuances aimed at institutional investors in the U.S. market, marking an important extension of Société Générale's digital asset capabilities from Europe to the U.S. As early as 2019, SG-FORGE successfully completed multiple tokenized bond issuances in Europe, providing end-to-end services from issuance to full lifecycle management.

This first digital bond in the U.S. was issued on the Canton Network. The network was initially developed by Digital Asset and supports on-chain instant transfer of securities while allowing issuers and registrars to continue using traditional capital market practices and compliance requirements.

These bonds are also among the first securities to utilize Broadridge's newly launched tokenization features, which allow securities to be issued in a digital-native form, significantly enhancing transparency, traceability, and settlement speed and efficiency.

Broadridge and SG-FORGE operate their respective nodes on the Canton Network's decentralized interoperability infrastructure "Global Synchronizer" using IntellectEU's Catalyst Blockchain Manager, jointly facilitating the successful issuance of this first tokenized bond in the U.S. and opening the door for more issuances and other application scenarios in the future.

Global leading third-party intermediary BNY will act as the payment agent for this bond, while Mayer Brown serves as legal counsel to Société Générale.

The successful transaction in the U.S. market is an important step for the future issuance of tokenized assets (including structured products), demonstrating Société Générale's firm commitment to leveraging its financial structuring expertise and SG-FORGE's technological capabilities to provide high-value-added services to clients.

Jean-Marc Stenger, CEO of SG-FORGE, stated:

"The successful completion of this transaction highlights our industry-leading position in the field of security tokenization, proving that Société Générale can safely bring new tools on-chain in a highly complex legal and regulatory environment."

Chris Zuehlke, Global Head of Cumberland, the digital asset division of DRW, stated:

"The issuance of these milestone digital bonds is an important step in building the future of finance. We have long advocated for innovation in financial markets and believe that tokenization can bring efficiency, transparency, and broader accessibility to the entire ecosystem. This reflects the strong momentum of institutional adoption of digital-native assets."

Horacio Barakat, Head of Digital Innovation at Broadridge, stated:

"By achieving on-chain issuance of corporate bonds on a public blockchain, we are opening up new distribution channels for issuers and their partners. This expansion extends our tokenization capabilities from U.S. Treasuries to a broader range of asset classes, enhancing their liquidity and utility as collateral for margin and financing. Broadridge is building the underlying infrastructure for on-chain capital markets, increasing liquidity and broadening investor access."

Yuval Rooz, CEO and Co-founder of Digital Asset, stated:

"We congratulate Société Générale on driving the digital evolution of capital markets, demonstrating that regulated entities can issue and manage real financial instruments on-chain with the same rigor and confidence as in traditional markets. This issuance showcases how to combine the mature structures of the existing financial system with the transparency, efficiency, and interoperability of digital infrastructure, unlocking new opportunities for institutions and investors."

Cécile Nagel, Head of Corporate Trust at BNY, stated:

"What the market needs is implementation, not just vision. Our capabilities enable issuers like Société Générale to turn innovation into reality. Digital bonds bring efficiency, open new markets, and enhance liquidity and asset transferability. With BNY's trusted service and operational reliability, we are reshaping finance—providing seamless access to digital markets on a solid foundation of traditional market infrastructure."

About Société Générale

Société Générale is one of the top banks in Europe, with approximately 119,000 employees serving over 26 million clients in 62 countries. For 160 years, it has continuously supported the development of the real economy, providing a wide range of value-added advisory and financial solutions to corporate, institutional, and individual clients. Long-term trusted client relationships, leading expertise, unique innovation, ESG strength, and top business franchises together form the core DNA of the group, serving the fundamental goal of creating sustainable value for all stakeholders.

About SG-FORGE

SG-FORGE is a regulated, fully functional subsidiary of the Société Générale Group, authorized to provide MiFID II investment services and MiCA crypto asset services in the European Economic Area, and is authorized by the ACPR to issue electronic money. SG-FORGE has issued stablecoins EUR CoinVertible and USD CoinVertible compliant with MiCA regulations.

The company has built an open, secure, institutional-grade digital asset trading platform with bank-level security and compliance guarantees, ensuring that all digital solutions and assets adhere to the CAST open-source interoperability and security market model.

More information: www.sgforge.com / www.cast-framework.com