Tokenisation of government bonds: assessment and roadmap

Key takeaways

• Government securities play a crucial role in the financial system – as a savings vehicle for households 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 have lower bid-ask spreads than conventional bonds and comparable issuance costs.
• Government bond tokenisation could improve market efficiency and support financial innovation, but its success depends on addressing regulatory and infrastructure challenges.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the BIS.