Malaysia’s central bank has launched a distributed ledger-based securities platform that supports tokenized bonds and Islamic sukuk, connecting digital ownership records with round-the-clock payment settlement.
Summary
- Bank Negara Malaysia launched SSDS+ on October 20 to support the issuance and safekeeping of tokenized bonds and sukuk.
- The new system connects digital securities records to RENTAS+, enabling round-the-clock payment settlement in central bank money.
- SSDS+ can support tokenized government bonds and corporate retail bonds, although no first issuance was identified.
- The rollout follows Malaysia’s RM100 million tokenized sukuk pilot in April and its continuing digital-asset experiments.
In its October 20 announcement, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said the new Scripless Securities Depository System, known as SSDS+, was developed internally using cloud and distributed ledger technologies to modernize the country’s bond market infrastructure.
SSDS+ handles the issuance, depository and safekeeping of digital debt securities, with ownership and transfers recorded electronically. The central bank built the platform on its existing Scripless Securities Depository System, which serves Malaysia’s wholesale financial market.
The new infrastructure connects directly to RENTAS+, the country’s upgraded real-time settlement system. While SSDS+ maintains securities records, RENTAS+ handles the corresponding payments for bond purchases using central bank money.
BNM said the connection allows payment and settlement services to operate around the clock, supporting financial institutions outside conventional banking hours.
Unlike arrangements that depend on private stablecoins or other digital payment tokens, the announced settlement process uses central bank money. Securities ownership records and payments are handled by two connected systems with different responsibilities.
The central bank expects digital records to simplify transactions and give issuers more flexibility when designing financial instruments. The infrastructure is primarily intended for wholesale markets but is ready to support tokenized government securities and corporate retail bonds.
BNM Governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour described the launch as an important development for the country’s financial infrastructure.
“Together, SSDS+ and RENTAS+ provide a secure, faster, more flexible and digitally-enabled foundation for new use cases in securities and payments,” he said.
The central bank has not identified the first bond issuer using SSDS+, disclosed transaction volumes or announced when tokenized retail bonds will become available through the platform.
RENTAS+ brings 24-hour payments to digital securities
The securities launch builds on Malaysia’s work to modernize its existing interbank payment infrastructure.
In October 2025, BNM launched RENTAS+, allowing financial institutions to transfer and settle funds continuously throughout the year.
The system upgraded Malaysia’s real-time gross settlement infrastructure, removing the restriction of fixed daily settlement windows for supported interbank payments.
According to the central bank, RENTAS became the first real-time gross settlement system in ASEAN to provide continuous 24-hour operations.
BNM introduced an automatic liquidity facility alongside the payment upgrade, allowing participating institutions to access liquidity through repurchase agreements and sell-and-buy-back arrangements.
Those facilities were designed to help banks manage settlement obligations when transactions take place outside conventional business hours.
The October 2026 connection with SSDS+ makes that existing payment infrastructure available for transactions involving tokenized debt securities.
Previously, the central bank’s wholesale securities infrastructure relied on its established scripless depository arrangements. SSDS+ introduces distributed ledger technology into securities recordkeeping while retaining central bank money for the payment process.
Malaysia previously completed RM100 million tokenized sukuk pilot
Malaysia had already conducted a substantial tokenized debt transaction before the new depository platform was announced.
On April 28, the Securities Commission Malaysia confirmed that sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional had successfully priced the country’s first tokenized sukuk pilot, valued at RM100 million.
The pilot sukuk transaction used distributed ledger technology to create a digital representation of the Islamic financial instrument, with the regulator describing the transaction as part of its work on domestic capital-market innovation.
Sukuk differ from conventional interest-bearing bonds because their structures must comply with Islamic finance principles. Tokenization can provide digital records for these instruments without changing their underlying contractual obligations.
The securities regulator described the April transaction as a pilot. BNM’s October announcement did not state that Khazanah’s issuance had used SSDS+.
The two developments therefore concern separate parts of Malaysia’s tokenization work: a previously announced financial instrument and a newly launched central securities infrastructure.
In October 2025, BNM published an asset tokenization discussion paper seeking industry feedback on possible applications, regulatory considerations and pilot programs within the Malaysian financial sector.
The consultation covered the development of tokenized financial services and invited responses from financial institutions and other market participants.
Ringgit stablecoin tests continue under digital asset program
Malaysia’s central bank has been testing tokenized forms of money alongside digital securities infrastructure.
Through its Digital Asset Innovation Hub, financial institutions have examined ringgit-denominated stablecoins and tokenized deposits for domestic and cross-border payment applications.
As crypto.news reported in February, the initiatives involved Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia, Maybank, CIMB and Capital A.
The central bank’s experiments involve controlled testing of payment and settlement arrangements, with findings intended to inform its regulatory approach.
A separate September review of Malaysia’s digital asset market reported that BNM’s tokenization working group includes AmBank, Hong Leong Bank, RHB Investment Bank and other domestic financial institutions.
BNM said its stablecoin and tokenized-deposit experiments would inform policy decisions, with further regulatory clarity expected by the end of 2026.