India Launches Demat 2.0 Pilot, Tokenized Corporate Bonds Reach $620 Billion

According to CoinDesk, India’s Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) officially launched the Demat 2.0 pilot program this week, enabling corporate bonds to be issued as digital tokens on a distributed ledger and settled via the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) wholesale Digital Rupee. To date, state-owned power lender REC, engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro, and non-banking financial institution IIFL Finance have all successfully secured financing through the system, raising a combined total of over 1 billion rupees (approximately $114 million).