Malaysia central bank launches tokenized bond platform with 24/7 settlement

Malaysia’s central bank has launched a distributed ledger-based securities platform that supports tokenized bonds and Islamic sukuk, connecting digital ownership records with round-the-clock payment settlement. Summary Bank Negara Malaysia launched SSDS+ on October 20 to support the issuance and safekeeping of tokenized bonds and sukuk. The new system connects digital securities records to RENTAS+, enabling round-the-clock payment settlement in central bank money. SSDS+ can support tokenized government bonds and corporate retail bonds, although no first issuance was identified. The rollout follows Malaysia’s RM100 million tokenized sukuk pilot in April and its continuing digital-asset experiments. In its October 20 announcement, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said the new Scripless Securities Depository System, known as SSDS+, was developed internally using cloud and distributed ledger technologies to modernize the country’s bond market infrastructure. Malaysia links tokenized bonds to central bank settlement SSDS+ handles the issuance, depository and safekeeping of digital debt securities, with ownership and transfers recorded electronically. The central bank built the platform on its...