Doha Bank Issues $150M Digital Bond Using Euroclear DLT

• Doha Bank completed a $150 million digital bond with instant T+0 settlement in London.
• Euroclear’s permissioned DLT enabled regulated issuance while integrating with the market.
• Standard Chartered led structuring and payment, attracting investors to digital bonds.

Doha Bank completed a $150 million digital bond issuance, settling instantly through Euroclear’s distributed ledger infrastructure. The transaction involved Doha Bank, Euroclear, Standard Chartered, and the London Stock Exchange, with the notes listed on the International Securities Market. The bond relied on a regulated DLT framework to deliver same-day settlement while meeting regulatory and operational requirements.

Digital Bond Lists in London With T+0 Settlement

The Qatari lender listed its floating-rate digitally native notes on the London Stock Exchange’s ISM and achieved T+0 settlement using Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure. Euroclear operates the platform as a permissioned DLT system built specifically for regulated securities issuance, distribution, and settlement. Notably, the platform connects digital issuance directly with existing custody and post-trade systems rather than operating outside traditional market rails.

This structure allows issuers to gain tokenization efficiencies such as instant settlement and automated record keeping while maintaining compatibility with international market standards. As a result, the transaction was completed on the same day without disrupting established investor access or liquidity arrangements. The notes remain fully integrated with familiar trading venues and secondary market services.

Standard Chartered acted as the sole global coordinator and sole arranger for the transaction, leading structuring, execution, and distribution. Citi served as issuing and paying agent on the digital bond issuance. According to Doha Bank, the deal attracted at least one new investor supporting efforts to diversify its funding base through digital infrastructure.

The issuance is one of Qatar’s earliest digitally native U.S. dollar bond transactions and positions the country among early adopters of regulated digital bond frameworks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Doha Bank said the transaction aligns with broader financial sector modernization goals and ongoing regulatory initiatives in Qatar. The bank also noted that the digital structure supported faster settlement without compromising market safeguards.

Regulated DLT Replaces Public Blockchain Rails

Unlike public blockchains, Euroclear’s DLT platform operates with controlled participant access, legal settlement finality, and regulatory oversight. The system avoids open network participation while preserving the operational benefits associated with distributed ledger technology. However, it continues to support tokenized issuance within established capital markets infrastructure.

Euroclear said the transaction demonstrated that same-day execution and settlement are achievable through a neutral, regulated DLT platform aligned with existing standards. The firm emphasized that integration with traditional secondary market services ensures continued investor access to liquidity. According to Euroclear, this approach reduces friction while maintaining assurance levels expected by issuers and investors.

The deal is within a broader regional effort to modernize capital markets infrastructure rather than build similar crypto-native systems. Across the Middle East and Asia, banks and regulators increasingly favor permissioned DLT platforms for digital bond issuance. These platforms embed tokenization into existing post-trade frameworks while maintaining regulatory control.

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Regional Platforms Expand Digital Issuance Activity

Other regional platforms follow similar models. HSBC’s Orion platform has supported sovereign and corporate digital bonds in Hong Kong, mainland China, and the Middle East, with direct integration into Euroclear, Clearstream, and Hong Kong’s Central Moneymarkets Unit. That interoperability enables faster settlement while keeping custody, listing, and investor access within familiar structures.

JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform, formerly Onyx, serves a comparable role for bank-issued debt and commercial paper by enabling end-to-end issuance and near-instant settlement using tokenized cash. Meanwhile, selective public blockchain deployments continue in specific use cases, including DBS-issued tokenized structured notes on Ethereum, where investor access and programmability justify open networks.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered said the Doha Bank transaction shows rising client demand for digital issuance and faster settlement cycles. Together, the issuance adds to a growing body of live digital bond activity across the Middle East and Asia. The transaction shows how regulated DLT infrastructure increasingly supports tokenization by integrating directly into existing capital markets rather than replacing them.