Verified use case
What happened?
Siemens moved from a €60 million public-blockchain bond settled through conventional payment rails in 2023 to a €300 million digital bond settled through a permissioned ledger and the Bundesbank Trigger Solution in 2024. The second transaction automated settlement in central bank money within minutes, demonstrating that digital issuance and the cash leg can be coordinated without treating blockchain transfer alone as settlement finality.
Context before technology
Background
Germany's Electronic Securities Act created a legal route for issuing securities without a paper global certificate. Siemens used this framework for its first blockchain-based digital bond in February 2023.
The first bond had a €60 million volume and one-year maturity. It used a public blockchain and was sold directly to investors, while the payment leg still moved through conventional bank accounts.
In September 2024, Siemens issued a second one-year digital bond of €300 million. This transaction used SWIAT's permissioned blockchain and the Bundesbank Trigger Solution to settle in central bank money.
Roles and records
How does the operating model work?
Legal issuance
The instrument was issued under the German electronic-securities framework, preserving a legally recognized registry and defined issuer obligations.
Digital register
DekaBank acted as bond registrar for the 2024 issuance while the security was recorded through the SWIAT network.
Institutional distribution
BayernLB, DekaBank, DZ BANK, Helaba and LBBW invested in the €300 million bond.
Payment settlement
Deutsche Bank coordinated the central-bank-money leg using the Bundesbank Trigger Solution, synchronizing payment with the digital security transaction.
Core infrastructure
- German electronic-securities framework
- Digital bond register
- Permissioned DLT settlement network
- Central-bank-money trigger solution
- Institutional investor and banking roles
- Treasury reconciliation
Confirmed milestones
How did the use case develop?
- 01
February 2023
First digital bond
Siemens completed a €60 million, one-year bond on a public blockchain. Conventional bank payment contributed to a two-day completion period.
- 02
September 2024
Second, larger issuance
Siemens completed a €300 million, one-year bond using a permissioned blockchain and central-bank-money settlement.
- 03
September 2024
Automated settlement
Siemens reported that the second transaction was processed automatically within minutes and that settlement risk was almost fully eliminated for the participating parties.
- 04
June 2025
Eurosystem assessment
The ECB cited the Siemens issuance among the high-profile transactions completed during its exploratory work on DLT settlement in wholesale central bank money.
Evidence of adoption
What outcomes are publicly confirmed?
Second digital-bond volume
Five times the size of Siemens' first €60 million blockchain bond.
Reported 2024 settlement time
Compared with two days for the 2023 transaction, according to Siemens.
Central-bank-money settlement
The Bundesbank Trigger Solution connected the payment leg to the DLT-based security transaction.
Metrics are attributed to their reporting organization and date. They are not forecasts, endorsements or guarantees of equivalent results.
Current position
What are the latest confirmed updates?
- The ECB's 2025 review treated the Siemens transaction as evidence of demand for central-bank-money settlement of DLT-based securities.
- The 2024 bond matured after one year; the reviewed public materials establish successful issuance and settlement but do not provide a public, transaction-level operating-cost comparison.
- No later Siemens digital-bond issuance was identified in the Siemens and ECB records reviewed through September 25, 2026.
What buyers can learn
Why did this use case progress?
- A clear legal route under Germany's Electronic Securities Act.
- A bounded institutional transaction with named registrar, investors and settlement bank.
- Integration of the cash leg rather than measuring only the token transfer.
- A second issuance that applied lessons from the first and materially increased scale.
Limits of the evidence
- The transaction involved a controlled participant set and does not prove secondary-market liquidity or universal interoperability.
- Siemens' statement that settlement risk was almost fully eliminated is an issuer assessment, not an independent quantified risk study.
- Minutes-level settlement depended on participating infrastructure and central-bank connectivity that may not be available to every issuer.
Questions to take into procurement
- Which ledger or register establishes legal ownership?
- How is central-bank-money settlement connected to the security ledger?
- Which intermediaries remain necessary after digitization?
Relevant FluidRWA directories
Common questions
Was the Siemens bond settled on a public blockchain?
The 2023 €60 million bond used a public blockchain with conventional payment. The 2024 €300 million bond used SWIAT's permissioned blockchain and the Bundesbank Trigger Solution for automated central-bank-money settlement.
What changed between the two issuances?
Reported settlement moved from two days in the 2023 transaction to automated processing within minutes in 2024, while the issue size increased from €60 million to €300 million.
Research record
FluidRWA reviewed the following public records. Company names are presented as plain text and are not outbound promotional links.
- Siemens — First digital bond on blockchain, February 14, 2023.
- Siemens — Another digital bond successfully issued on blockchain, September 4, 2024.
- European Central Bank — Exploratory work on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement, June 2025.
- European Central Bank — Annex II, comprehensive overview of trials and experiments, June 2025.
Independent research summary, not legal, investment or regulatory advice. Public statements may be updated after the research cut-off.
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