The Republic of the Marshall Islands, a territory between Hawaii and Australia consisting of more than a thousand islands spread across nearly 2mn square kilometres of ocean, seems an unlikely candidate for the first tokenised bond programme from a sovereign issuer.
But the nation was just that, launching an issuance last year through its USDM1 framework. The initiative aims to address high banking costs and reliance on cash for the Marshall Islands’ 42,000 citizens — who face slow and costly domestic transfers, or have to take expensive inter-island flights just to cash a cheque.
