ChainCatcher News: Japanese listed company Metaplanet announced the issuance of the fifth series of zero-interest ordinary bonds totaling 5 billion yen. The raised funds will be used to accelerate the purchase of Bitcoin, with the bond maturity date set for June 16, 2025. The company plans to secure the funds for bond repayment through the proceeds from the exercise of the 12th series of warrants.

ChainCatcher news, according to data from RWA.xyz, the total value of tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds exceeds $3 billion.The total market value of tokenized assets in 2024 has grown by 32%, with tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds up 179%, private credit up 40%, and commodities up 5%.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, BlackRock's actively managed ETF fund iShares Short Maturity Municipal Bond Active ETF (MEAR) has completed a milestone municipal bond transaction through JPMorgan's blockchain platform.The fund purchased a $6.5 million bond issued by the city of Quincy, Massachusetts, marking the first municipal bond fully issued and traded based on blockchain technology. The MEAR fund currently manages approximately $750 million and has updated its prospectus to support bond settlement through the blockchain platform.

ChainCatcher news, according to Protos, market rumors suggest that MicroStrategy (MSTR) may enter a lock-up period in January 2025, during which it will suspend raising funds to purchase Bitcoin through "at-the-market" (ATM) stock and convertible bond issuances. This information comes from a leak by a venture capitalist, stating that Executive Chairman Michael Saylor "will be in a lock-up period throughout January and will not be able to issue new convertible bonds to purchase Bitcoin."Although the SEC has not explicitly prohibited insider trading during the end of the quarter and financial report release periods, many companies voluntarily implement a lock-up period of 2 weeks to 1 month to avoid suspicions of insider trading. MicroStrategy plans to release its financial report on February 5, 2025, and will join the Nasdaq 100 index on December 23.There are various opinions in the market regarding the specific timing of the lock-up period: some believe it will be a full month, while others predict it will start on January 14 for 30 days. Currently, MicroStrategy has not officially responded to these rumors.

ChainCatcher News: Japanese listed company Metaplanet Inc. announced the issuance of its fourth series of ordinary bonds, with a total amount of 4.5 billion yen (approximately 30 million USD). The raised funds will be used to accelerate the purchase of Bitcoin.The bond has an annual interest rate of zero and is expected to mature on June 16, 2025. The redemption funds for the bonds will mainly be paid through the proceeds from the exercise of previously issued warrants. In addition, Metaplanet plans to further expand its capital operation capabilities through multiple issuances of private bonds, totaling up to 5 billion yen.

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 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, 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 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.

ChainCatcher news, the city of Lugano, Switzerland has issued digital bonds worth 120 million Swiss francs (139 million USD), marking the third bond issued by the city. The city currently issues bonds exclusively through the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX). Due to strong demand, the issuance price of this 9-year 1% coupon bond is above its face value.The digital bonds will be settled using wholesale CBDC. This is the first bond issuance since the Swiss central bank announced the extension of the wCBDC pilot two years ago in June. The joint lead managers for this issuance are Basler Kantonalbank, Raiffeisen, J. Safra Sarasin, and Zürcher Kantonalbank.