The State of Israel has issued a digital bond to enable the immediate, real-time transfer of money via the internet.
Dubbed “Project Eden,” the move constitutes a global first and is intended to reduce risk, shorten procedures, and improve efficiency and transparency in the financial markets.
The “proof of concept” phase for the project was completed last week by the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), the Israeli Finance Ministry’s office of the Accountant General and three leading tech companies in the field (Fireblocks, VMWare and BlockFold), according to the report by Globes.
“Technology is always developing and requires us to enter into the thick of things and understand how we can improve and streamline,” said Finance Ministry Accountant General Yali Rothenberg.
Fireblocks cofounder and CPO Idan Efrat added that his company works in 30 countries and “we see things moving fast towards the use of digital assets in various financial areas.”
The government digital bond was issued on a dedicated blockchain platform.
The initiative, which is still in the trial phase, allows immediate clearing of the digital bond against digital currencies via the blockchain, rather than the current system of waiting several days for the money to transfer before issuing the bond.
