Bank of Canada has successfully completed Project Samara, a rigorous pilot program that culminated in the issuance of the nation's first tokenized bond. Conducted on Friday, March 6, 2026, the experiment brought together a powerhouse coalition including Export Development Canada (EDC), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and TD Bank Group to test the efficiency of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in high-stakes financial environments. The pilot centered on a $100 million CAD ($73.6 million USD) debt instrument issued by the EDC, which was managed entirely on a blockchain-based platform from issuance to final redemption. By utilizing wholesale central bank deposits for settlement instead of traditional commercial bank money, the project demonstrated a significant reduction in counterparty risk and transaction latency. This move positions Canada alongside a growing global cohort of nations seeking to modernize "legacy rails" with programmable, near-instant financial infrastructure.

• The pilot utilized a permissioned Hyperledger Fabric network to synchronize cash and bond ledgers, achieving settlement speeds previously impossible in traditional markets.
• Wholesale central bank deposits were used as the primary settlement asset, marking a departure from the "commercial bank money" models used in previous Canadian trials.
• Explore the specific operational trade-offs identified by researchers regarding the integration of DLT into existing regulatory and governance frameworks.

The primary objective of Project Samara was to determine if distributed ledger technology could resolve the "structural inertia" often found in the $2.5 trillion Canadian bond market. Historically, bond issuance involves a fragmented series of steps across multiple intermediaries, leading to settlement delays and increased operational costs. By contrast, the Bank of Canada's pilot platform allowed for the "atomic" exchange of assets—where the bond and the payment move simultaneously—virtually eliminating the risk that one party fails to deliver.

This experiment follows a global trend of "industrial-scale" tokenization. It mirrors the EU’s recent push to reform the DLT Pilot Regime, where European firms are fighting to raise issuance caps to remain competitive with North American innovation. For Canada, the success of the $100 million EDC bond proves that the technology is ready for institutional-grade volume, even if the "plumbing" of the broader financial system still requires significant regulatory updates.

One of the most critical aspects of Project Samara was the use of wholesale central bank deposits for payment processing. Unlike retail-focused experiments, this pilot focused on the "wholesale" layer—the interactions between large financial institutions. By using central bank money, the Bank of Canada provided the highest level of settlement finality, a key requirement for the SEC’s recent move to slash stablecoin haircuts to 2% in the United States.

The platform, built on Hyperledger Fabric, integrated separate ledgers for cash and bonds. This architecture allowed participants like TD Bank and RBC to manage the full lifecycle of the security—including bidding, coupon payments, and secondary trading—within a single, synchronized data environment. This level of transparency is exactly what Aave founder Stani Kulechov envisions for the $50 trillion "abundance asset" boom, where tokenized debt becomes the primary collateral for a new global economy.

Canada is not alone in this journey. Project Samara builds on the foundation laid by the World Bank’s 2018 "Bond-i" and the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian. However, the Canadian pilot is unique in its focus on integrating with existing domestic payment networks. While participants reported massive improvements in data integrity and operational efficiency, they also cautioned that "regulatory and integration challenges" remain.

As Revolut applies for a US banking licence to gain direct access to Fedwire and ACH, the Bank of Canada's experiment highlights a parallel track: building entirely new rails that may eventually replace Fedwire-style systems altogether. For now, the Bank of Canada remains cautious, noting that while the technology works, broader adoption will be a multi-year process involving deep collaboration between regulators and the private sector. The issuance of the first tokenized bond is the starting gun for a race to define the next century of Canadian finance.

FAQs

What is a tokenized bond and how does it differ from a regular bond?
A tokenized bond is a traditional debt instrument (like a government or corporate bond) whose ownership and transaction history are recorded on a blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT). Unlike regular bonds that rely on centralized databases and manual reconciliation, tokenized bonds allow for near-instant settlement and automated "smart contract" features for interest payments.

Why did the Bank of Canada use Hyperledger Fabric for Project Samara?
Hyperledger Fabric is a "permissioned" blockchain framework, meaning only authorized institutions like the Bank of Canada, RBC, and TD can participate. This provides the high level of security, privacy, and regulatory compliance required for wholesale financial markets, which public blockchains like Ethereum often struggle to provide for institutional use.

What are "wholesale central bank deposits" and why were they used?
Wholesale central bank deposits are electronic funds held by commercial banks at the central bank. In Project Samara, using these funds for settlement ensured that the payment part of the bond trade was as safe as cash, eliminating the "credit risk" associated with using private commercial bank money during the settlement process.

How does DLT reduce "counterparty risk" in bond trading?
Counterparty risk is the danger that one side of a trade doesn't fulfill their obligation. Distributed ledger technology enables "Atomic Settlement," where the bond and the money are exchanged simultaneously. If the money isn't there, the bond doesn't move, and vice versa, which effectively removes the risk of one party failing to deliver.

When will all Canadian bonds be issued using this technology?
While the Bank of Canada pilot was a success, researchers noted that "infrastructure and regulatory hurdles" still exist. A full transition of the bond market to DLT will likely take several more years as laws are updated and legacy banking systems are slowly integrated with new blockchain-based rails.