Philippines Launches First Tokenised Treasury Bonds as Crypto Focus Shifts to Structured Finance

TL;DR: The Philippines issued its first tokenised treasury bonds in 2023, using blockchain to digitise government debt while keeping existing legal frameworks. The move comes as regulators update rules for crypto‑asset service providers and structured finance, signalling a shift from pure payments to tokenised capital‑market instruments.

Context: For over a decade, Philippine crypto activity centred on remittances, payments and trading, driven by a large overseas workforce and rising digital‑wallet use. Recently, attention has turned to tokenisation—the process of representing rights in assets such as bonds or receivables as digital tokens on a distributed ledger. Tokenisation does not change the underlying legal rights but streamlines issuance, settlement and record‑keeping, which is especially valuable in structured finance where assets are pooled and repackaged.

Key Facts: The Bureau of the Treasury’s 2023 tokenised treasury bond series carried a 5.75% coupon and settled on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp (PDEx) under ticker PHILTB23. The Philippine government bond market outstanding stands at roughly ₱7.5 trillion (≈ $130 bn). The Securitisation Act of 2004 continues to govern structured finance, requiring true sale, asset isolation and investor protection. In 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission released rules for Crypto‑Asset Service Providers (CASPs) that mandate registration for entities handling more than ₱1 bn in monthly transaction volume and subject public offerings to disclosure and potential securities regulation.

What It Means: By integrating tokenised bonds into the existing securities registry, the Philippines shows how distributed ledger technology can enhance current capital‑market infrastructure without replacing it. The efficiencies—faster settlement, lower operational costs and improved transparency—could lower borrowing costs for the government and encourage corporate issuers to explore tokenised asset‑backed securities. Regulatory clarity from the Securitisation Act, the SEC’s 2025 CASP rules and BSP oversight of virtual asset service providers creates a framework where utility tokens used in issuance platforms must be assessed for their economic substance to determine if they qualify as securities.

Watch for the first tokenised asset‑backed securities issuance expected later in 2025 and the BSP’s forthcoming guidance on digital asset custodianship, which could further expand structured‑finance activity on blockchain platforms.