Chinese banking giant withdraws $3B blockchain bond from listing

China Construction Bank’s $3 billion blockchain bond has been reportedly withdrawn following an initial delay.

Fusang Exchange, a Malaysian cryptocurrency exchange that was to be responsible for listing the bond, said that it has been withdrawn at the issuer’s request.

According to Reuters on Nov. 23, CCB’s branch in Labuan informed Fusang Exchange on Nov. 20 that the bond issuance would not proceed.

The blockchain-based bond was to be issued by Longbond Ltd, a special purpose platform designed solely to issue digital bonds and deposit the proceeds with CCB Labuan.

On Nov. 13, the day the bond had been due to be traded, Fusang Exchange officially announced that the $3 billion blockchain bond was delayed “at the request of the issuer.” According to the latest report, Fusang Exchange received a letter from CCB Labuan on behalf of Longbond postponing the listing.

As previously reported, CCB, one of the largest banks in the world, planned to raise up to $3 billion with the bond, with an initial tranche of $58 million at launch. 

Initial reports suggested that, since the bond would be tokenized and traded on a cryptocurrency exchange, interested buyers could trade Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies for the bond. This claim was since disputed by CCB.