For the first time ever, investors can pay for a bond using the digital currency Bitcoin, reported the Wall Street Journal. The issuing firm, China Construction Bank Corp, intends to raise $3 billion through the sale of these digital bonds, which can also be paid for using U.S. dollars. They can be bought for as little as $100, will roll over every three months and pay an annualized interest rate of LIBOR plus 50 basis points.
The reason people will be able to buy the bonds with bitcoins is that the deal is technically going to take place in Malaysia, a country listed on the Fusang Exchange, which already facilitates cryptocurrency trades. In this sense, China Construction Bank is not directly dealing in cryptocurrencies, but simply taking bank deposits, as the exchange will be converting them into sovereign currency. Despite this, the Malaysian exchange boasted that this is the very first publicly listed debt security to be listed on the blockchain.
If you are reading this, however, it is unlikely you will actually be able to buy any of them, Bitcoin or no. The bond is available to everyone in the world except for tax residents of the United States and China, as well as people and entities in Iran and North Korea.