Czech National Bank issues its first bonds on a blockchain ledger

The Czech National Bank has issued its first bonds on a blockchain ledger. The central bank announced on November 10, 2026 that it had issued koruna-denominated bonds in tokenized form using distributed ledger technology, or DLT.

The issuance ran through CNB Lab, the bank’s in-house innovation unit. The bonds live on a DLT platform maintained by the Central Securities Depository, known as CSD Prague.

That platform carries a notable credential. CSD Prague was the first infrastructure in the European Union to receive a license under the EU’s DLT Pilot Regime.

Throughout October and November 2026, the CNB ran tests covering the full life of a bond. That included simple transfers, purchases and sales against payment, interest disbursements, and repo transactions.

According to the CNB, all of these transactions settled nearly instantaneously. In a world where securities settlement has traditionally involved waiting periods and multiple intermediaries, that speed is the headline feature.

Small numbers, full lifecycle

Each bond carried a nominal value of CZK 10,000, and total test volumes amounted to tens of thousands of koruna.

The CNB said it confirmed the end-to-end lifecycle of the instruments, which required changes to contracts and rules along the way.

The CNB’s sole commercial-bank counterparty in the tests was Česká spořitelna.

The bank also went shopping. As part of testing its reserve management, the CNB purchased a euro-denominated government bond that exists exclusively on DLT.

Why the governor cares

CNB Governor Aleš Michl framed the project around two goals. The first is making koruna assets more liquid and easier to trade, particularly relative to alternatives such as German Bunds.

His second goal is about what money moves on these new rails. Michl stressed that settlement should rely on central bank money rather than private instruments.