Czech central bank tests DLT bonds, boxing out stablecoins
The Czech National Bank completed small tests of bond and repo transactions on a distributed ledger, reporting near-instant settlement and volumes of only tens of thousands of koruna. Governor Aleš Michl favors using central bank money to settle tokenized securities, but the bank has not disclosed the pilot’s cash instrument, and a recent presentation said DLT settlement in central bank money was not yet available. The tests therefore do not establish whether private stablecoins will be displaced. The CNB’s network is limited to approved institutions, while the Eurosystem’s Pontes is gradually connecting market platforms to central bank settlement. Broader access to public settlement infrastructure could reduce demand for stablecoins used in securities trades.
