Societe Generale’s digital asset subsidiary SG-FORGE and Swift have completed a landmark pilot demonstrating the exchange and settlement of tokenised bonds using both fiat money and a regulated euro stablecoin. The initiative matters for Europe because it shows how tokenised capital markets could scale without abandoning existing payment infrastructure, a core concern for regulators, banks, and the European Central Bank as digital finance moves closer to production use.
According to a joint press release dated 15 January 2026, the project successfully settled tokenised bonds using EUR CoinVertible, the euro-denominated stablecoin issued by Societe Generale-FORGE. SG-FORGE says EUR CoinVertible is the first stablecoin compliant with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, MiCA, that is natively compatible with Swift interoperability capabilities.
Swift acted as an orchestration layer, coordinating settlement flows between blockchain platforms and traditional payment systems rather than replacing them. This design choice reflects a growing industry consensus that interoperability, not disruption, is the most realistic path for institutional adoption of tokenised assets.
From proof of concept to market-ready workflows
The pilot covered the full lifecycle of a bond, including issuance, delivery-versus-payment settlement, coupon payments, and redemption. Crucially, all settlement flows were routed through Swift infrastructure and aligned with ISO 20022 messaging standards, enabling tokenised securities to interact with existing bank systems.
SG-FORGE contributed its open-source CAST framework, short for Compliance Architecture for Security Tokens, which defines how security tokens and settlement assets behave on chain while remaining compatible with regulatory and operational requirements. The use of CAST and a MiCA-compliant stablecoin was intended to demonstrate that tokenisation can meet European compliance expectations from the outset, rather than retrofitting controls later.
The collaboration also builds on ongoing work by the European Central Bank on wholesale central bank digital currency experiments. While the pilot did not involve a central bank liability, it illustrates how private settlement assets could coexist with future forms of digital central bank money in interbank and capital markets.
Why this matters for Europe
For European policymakers and market participants, the significance lies less in the technology itself than in the operating model. Tokenised bonds settled using regulated stablecoins, while relying on existing payment rails, reduce settlement times and operational complexity without forcing banks to migrate core systems to blockchain.
Swift framed the pilot as evidence that digital assets can be adopted at scale if interoperability is solved first. SG-FORGE, meanwhile, positioned EUR CoinVertible as a reference euro stablecoin for institutional use, particularly in tokenised securities and corporate payments.
The trial involved participating banks and forms part of a broader Swift programme exploring digital assets and currencies. In September last year, Swift said it was working with more than 30 global banks, including Societe Generale, on a shared blockchain-based ledger initially focused on real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments.