- The European Investment Bank is planning to issue €100 million in digital bonds on the Ethereum public blockchain.
- Goldman Sachs, Société Générale, and Banco Santander will be joint-lead managers to handle the sale.
- The news is attributed as the cause for the last Ethereum price boom, resulting in a new all-time high.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world in terms of market capitalization, recorded a new all-time high on April 28 at around $2,710. Among other reasons, the good news from the European Investment Bank seems to have had the most effect.
According to a report by Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, European Investment Bank (EIB) plans to issue a two-year €100 million ($121 million) worth of digital bonds. The bonds will reportedly be registered on the Ethereum public blockchain network using distributed ledger technology.
Goldman Sachs, Banco Santander, and Societe Generale will lead the sale, the report states.
Both Banco Santander and Societe Generale had previously issued bonds on the public Ethereum blockchain. In April 2019, Societe Generale issued a large bond of €100 million as a security token on the Ethereum blockchain.
This Is Bullish For Ethereum
The investment by the European Investment Bank, the lending arm of the European Union, on Ethereum is viewed as a bullish catalyst for the network. According to the Ethereum community, this move is an affirmation of Ethereum as a reliable and recognized financial infrastructure.
Danny Kim, SFOXHead of Revenue, an independent crypto broker, told Reuters that the news has demonstrated the institutional use case for ethereum. He also mentioned the ever-declining Ethereum supply on exchanges, stating:
The amount of Ethereum sitting on exchanges continues to drop lower and has been the lowest in the past year. With less supply on exchange available, there’s less likely a chance of a major sell-off.
Ethereum has the potential to be utilized as the base layer for transactions of various forms. Ethereum allows smart contracts and it is currently the most used smart contract platform, recording an average of 1.5 million transactions per day.
The Ethereum network has greatly benefited from the DeFi and NFT booms over the course of last year, but it still needs more recognition from institutions like banks to get mass adoption. With the news from EIB, it is safe to expect other financial giants to step in soon and approve Ethereum as an acknowledged financial infrastructure.
At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $2,610 with a 2.13% increase over the last 24 hours according to data from Coinmarketcap. Ethereum recorded a new all-time high at $2,713 in the last 24 hours, mainly attributed to the positive news by EIB.
