India tokenizes $620B corporate bond market with digital rupee pilot
Good Morning Lions,
India just opened a $620 billion door. The country's securities regulator (SEBI) and central bank (RBI) launched Demat 2.0, a pilot that issues corporate bonds as blockchain tokens and settles them using the wholesale digital rupee. Three companies have already raised roughly $107 million through the framework — real capital moving through real tokenized infrastructure.
This is the moment the infrastructure stops being theoretical. When a central bank and a securities regulator agree to tokenize an entire asset class, they're not experimenting anymore. They're building the settlement layer for how capital markets will actually work. The digital rupee is a government-issued settlement mechanism — instant, transparent, programmable settlement without intermediaries. That changes how capital flows, how issuers raise money, and what the cost structure looks like for everyone in between.
India's SEBI and RBI launch Demat 2.0: blockchain-issued bonds settle in wholesale digital rupee. Three firms raised $107M. Bitcoin $77,786 (+1.4%). ETH $2,510 (+1.3%).
India's $620B Bond Market Goes On-Chain With Digital Rupee
TL;DR: SEBI and RBI launched Demat 2.0, tokenizing corporate bonds and settling them on the wholesale digital rupee. Three companies raised $107M in the pilot. This is institutional tokenization at scale — not a proof of concept, but a live capital market.
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The question now is velocity. India's bond market is live on blockchain, but adoption depends on whether issuers and investors actually use it versus the legacy rails. Three firms in a $620B market is the beachhead. Watch whether that number compounds or stalls — that tells you whether tokenization is real infrastructure or just a regulatory sandbox. — Khal
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More crypto news, daily, at news.leodex.io. The Daily LEO · Written by the LEO Team, Edited by Khal.