ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, the Ministry of Finance has decided to carry out support operations for government bond market making. The operation direction is to sell, with 1.26 billion yuan of the 2024 book-entry interest-bearing (16th issue) government bonds and 530 million yuan of the 2024 book-entry interest-bearing (19th issue) government bonds. The competitive bidding time is December 17.

ChainCatcher news, the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has released a digital debt reference guide based on DLT. This document is the result of ICMA's DLT Bond Working Group, chaired by Christoph Hock of Union Investment."Token economics, especially DLT-based bonds, have become increasingly important in recent months," Hock mentioned, alluding to the recent wholesale DLT settlement trials conducted by the European Central Bank in central bank money, which have helped to increase activity. He continued, "Currently, we see the entire value chain being highly fragmented, and we look forward to strengthening collaboration and standardization, which will play a key role in further building the tokenized world. With its DLT Bond Reference Guide, ICMA and all stakeholders have taken a significant step in this direction."As an asset management company, Union Investment has been one of the most active investors in the digital bond space, starting with the issuance of the first bond by the European Investment Bank (EIB) in April 2021. The EIB has now issued six digital bonds, including two issued in November as part of the ECB DLT settlement trial.

ChainCatcher news, according to News.bitcoin, Microstrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) Executive Chairman Michael Saylor shared a chart showing the performance of Microstrategy stock relative to other major investments.Since adopting a Bitcoin strategy on August 10, 2020, the company has achieved an annualized return of 124%, outperforming all major asset classes. Factset data from December 11 shows that Bitcoin achieved a strong annualized return of 64% over the same time period.In comparison, the returns for Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla were 31%, the S&P 500 index was 15%, real estate was 10%, and gold returned 7%. Bonds performed poorly, with a return of negative 5%.

ChainCatcher news, according to the South China Morning Post, Ray Dalio, founder of the world's largest hedge fund Bridgewater, stated at the Abu Dhabi Financial Conference that he advises investors to stay away from debt assets like bonds and turn to "hard currencies" such as gold and Bitcoin.Dalio pointed out that the debt levels of major economies, except for Germany, have reached "unprecedented" levels, and a debt crisis is inevitable in the coming years, which will lead to a significant devaluation of currency. He emphasized that debt, currency, and the economy are one of the five key forces influencing future developments, along with domestic political order and geopolitical patterns.

ChainCatcher news, since June of this year, seven publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies have raised a total of $5.2 billion through convertible bonds. Of this, 70% (i.e., $3.6 billion) was raised in the past four weeks.MARA and Core Scientific have raised over $2.4 billion through zero-coupon convertible bonds in recent weeks, with MARA alone raising $1.85 billion. The conversion prices for both companies are about 40% higher than the average stock price at the time of issuance.

ChainCatcher message, Binance Futures will automatically liquidate the MAVIAUSDT, OMGUSDT, and BONDUSDT U-margined perpetual contracts on December 16 at 17:00 (UTC+8), and will delist the above U-margined perpetual contract trading pairs after the liquidation is completed.

ChainCatcher news, Sydney-based Bitcoin mining company IREN announced plans to raise $400 million through the issuance of convertible bonds (coupon rate of 3.25%, conversion premium of 30%), an increase from the previously announced total principal amount of $300 million. The issuance and sale of these bonds are scheduled to settle on December 6, 2024, subject to customary closing conditions. Additionally, IREN stated its intention to expand its Bitcoin mining capacity to 50 EH/s by the first half of 2025.

ChainCatcher news, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) officially announced the launch of the "Digital Bond Financing Scheme" (Financing Scheme) as stated in the 2024 Policy Address, aimed at promoting the development of the digital securities market and encouraging the broader use of tokenization technology in the capital markets. The Financing Scheme is now open for applications, initially for a period of three years, and if the relevant eligibility requirements are met, each digital bond issued in Hong Kong can receive a maximum grant of HKD 2.5 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi Data, due to the impact of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday (Thursday), the trading hours in the U.S. will be shortened this week. The U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed on November 28 (tomorrow) and will close early on November 29 (Friday).Futures contracts for precious metals, crude oil, foreign exchange, and stock indices under the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), as well as Brent crude oil futures contracts under the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), will close early on November 28 and 29.This adjustment in trading hours will affect multiple financial products, including Bitcoin futures. Investors are advised to make appropriate arrangements in advance and pay attention to position management.

ChainCatcher news, cryptocurrency liquidity provider B2C2 has issued its first on-chain corporate bond. The bond was issued in collaboration with on-chain debt capital markets company PV01, which was founded by B2C2's founders.The bond is tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain and is denominated in USDC stablecoin. Its entire lifecycle, from issuance to redemption and secondary transfer, will be conducted entirely on-chain.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, Trump has nominated Pam Bondi for the position of U.S. Attorney General, after the previously nominated Matt Gaetz has withdrawn from the position.

ChainCatcher news, according to Ledger Insights, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has issued its fifth digital bond, amounting to €100 million, using a pilot wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (wCBDC) for settlement. This is part of the European Central Bank's wholesale DLT settlement trial that concluded this month.The EIB issued this digital bond on the HSBC Orion platform, marking the second time the EIB has used this platform. Each digital bond issued by the European Investment Bank explores a new feature, typically involving different issuance platforms. Its first issuance was in 2021 on the Ethereum blockchain. The fourth bond was a green bond, and the latest bond utilized a new type of settlement asset.

According to ChainCatcher news reported by Decrypt, Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) is issuing $850 million in convertible notes, with an option to expand to $1 billion, as part of a plan to repurchase existing debt, acquire Bitcoin, and fund corporate plans during the cryptocurrency market recovery.The company plans to use $199 million of the expected net proceeds of $833 million from this sale to repurchase its existing $212 million 2026 convertible notes. Marathon Digital stated that the remaining portion will be used to purchase more Bitcoin and for general corporate purposes, including working capital, strategic acquisitions, asset expansion, and repaying other debts.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the digital securities exchange Bitfinex Securities is conducting the first public offering of tokenized U.S. Treasury bills (T-bills) under the legal framework of El Salvador. As part of this issuance, the El Salvador-based digital asset issuer NexBridge Digital Financial Solutions will issue a new token with the trading code USTBL. This token aims to provide investors with an opportunity to invest in short-term U.S. Treasury bills denominated in U.S. dollars (USD).The initial offering by Bitfinex Securities aims to raise at least $30 million to continue the issuance of tokens, with the initial subscription period starting on November 19, 2024, and ending on November 29. According to Bitfinex Securities, this sale is the "first regulated" tokenized U.S. Treasury product based on Bitcoin technology. The new token will be issued on the Bitcoin Layer 2 network Liquid Network, and it is expected to provide an annualized yield to maturity of 5.02%. Proceeds from this issuance will be allocated to the iShares $ Treasury Bond 0-1yr UCITS ETF, which is a publicly listed ETF designed to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. Treasury bonds denominated in U.S. dollars issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

ChainCatcher News: Japanese listed company Metaplanet issued 1.75 billion yen (approximately 11.3 million USD) 1-year bonds at 0.36%, with the raised funds to be used for acquiring more BTC.

ChainCatcher news, according to Coindesk, the UK Treasury stated in a statement on Thursday that the UK government will launch a pilot program to issue digital government bond instruments similar to bonds using distributed ledger technology.The Treasury stated: "The government will launch a pilot program to provide digital government bond instruments using distributed ledger technology (DLT) to demonstrate the government's commitment to innovation in the financial services sector." DLT is the underlying technology for crypto assets, where each node can store and update data. UK Treasury Economic Secretary Tulip Siddiq stated that the Labour Party will soon announce its plans in the cryptocurrency sector.Bloomberg cited unnamed sources as saying that the Labour Party is likely to continue following in the footsteps of the previous ruling Conservative Party by developing legislation for stablecoins and staking.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, as Bitcoin rises and the results of the U.S. elections are announced, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has proposed to repurchase dollar bonds for the third time this year. According to a statement released on Tuesday, the government proposed to repurchase a series of notes maturing from 2027 to 2034. The total outstanding principal of these securities exceeds $2.5 billion.The statement did not specify how the transaction would be paid for. However, a knowledgeable source indicated that the debt repurchase depends on new financing, the details of which have not been disclosed as this information is not yet public. Data shows that since Trump won the U.S. presidential election last week, El Salvador's debt yield has reached 4.7%, outperforming all emerging market countries except Ukraine.Investors have long believed that Trump's second term would help Bukele gain support for International Monetary Fund loans. New York-based economist Katrina Butt stated, "The market sees El Salvador as a 'Trump deal,' with expectations that a closer personal relationship between Bukele and Trump will benefit El Salvador, and they are unlikely to have enough cash for such a repurchase, likely needing to enter the market for financing the transaction."

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, informed sources revealed that the UK plans to start issuing digital government bonds within the next two years. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is expected to announce a trial issuance of digital bonds during her speech at Mansion House in the City of London on Thursday. Traditionally, the Chancellor uses this forum to announce policies that support the financial sector.The new Labour government is working to modernize the financial markets and is currently utilizing blockchain technology to "tokenize" government debt, hoping that this move will make government bond trading faster and cheaper.Amid the digital transformation, the UK government is undertaking a £297 billion ($382 billion) borrowing plan, the second-largest borrowing plan in history, with sales expected to remain high in the coming years. Informed sources indicated that legislation may need to be submitted to Parliament to proceed with blockchain-based sales. The UK Treasury declined to comment.

ChainCatcher news, according to Ledger Insights, the French deposit bank (CDC) recently issued €100 million ($108 million) in digital bonds, using the French central bank's DL3S DLT platform and its pilot wholesale central bank digital currency wCBDC for settlement. This transaction is part of the European Central Bank's wholesale DLT settlement pilot, which will conclude this month.The French central bank avoids using the term wholesale CBDC, instead referring to it as a tokenized representation of central bank currency. For the issuance by CDC, it needed to synchronize the issuance of digital native notes (DNN) on Euroclear's D-FMI platform with the settlement on the central bank's DL3S. According to French law, DNNs are issued in bearer form.Additionally, the French pilot CBDC solution has been used for several other digital bond issuances. These include a €30 million sovereign bond issued by Slovenia and small commercial papers issued by Dutch banks, along with several other projects involving simulated DL3S experiments.