Austria Notarizes EUR1.15 Billion Bond Auction Using Blockchain Tech, Time of Digitalisation is Here

The government of Austria has enrolled local bank Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB) to witness the auction of a EUR1.15 billion government bond with the help of Ethereum Blockchain technology.

OeKB will unfold the notarization service to authorize transaction data and keep it on the distributed ledger technology (DLT). 

DLT-based data notarization involves hashing, an encryption method for documents to obtain a sui generis electronic fingerprint. A hash is clearly assignable to the original document but reciprocally doesn't enable conclusions to the particular data content. 

The Tech Innovation 

This implies that the original document can be safely kept in the computing centres of OeKB and, therefore, the authenticity of the document can be assured. 

Angelika Sommer-Hemetsberger, the OeKB board member who is responsible for Information Technology and capital markets service noted: 

"We regard the innovative form of blockchain-based data notarization as a logical technological advance in times of digitalization.” 

In August 2018, the World Bank authorised the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to roll out the globe’s first bond to be formed, earmarked, transferred and properly managed via its life cycle using DLT.