A bookrunner consortium made up of DZ Bank, Deutsche Bank, LBBW, and Bankhaus Metzler will execute the blockchain-based transaction, while Union Investments has been added as an achor investor. Over the next few weeks, more investors will be added, and the deal is expected to close in the summer of 2024.

A digital bond in the form of a central register security has already been issued by KfW. Tim Armbruster, treasurer at KfW, adds, "We are now taking the next big step with the issuance of a blockchain-based bond for which we want to attract as many investors as possible.""Learning and finding areas for improvement is the first step toward the digitalization of refinancing." We think that the benefits of digitalization will include greater scalability and efficiency.

The crypto securities registrant will be Cashlink Technologies GmbH, a fintech company based in Frankfurt.

KfW is restricting this transaction to the bond being issued in digital format. Payments will still be handled through the current payment systems in a conventional manner.