Wall Street moves benchmarks onchain as S&P tokenizes Treasurys index

S&P Dow Jones Indices has tokenized its iBoxx US Treasuries Index on the Canton Network, making a major fixed-income benchmark available as a digital asset and signaling a shift toward onchain data infrastructure in traditional finance.

In a Tuesday announcement, S&P said the index was brought onchain together with Kaiko, a provider of digital asset market data and infrastructure that supports the tokenization and onchain delivery of the index.

The iBoxx US Treasuries Index is a widely used benchmark that tracks the performance of US government bonds across different maturities, serving as a reference point for institutional investors and fixed-income products.

The tokenized index is not an investable product. Instead, it’s designed for financial institutions building digital products, allowing them to integrate benchmark data, including pricing and index levels, directly into blockchain systems.

S&P Dow Jones Indices will continue to control who can access and use the gauge, with permissions built into the token itself. Kaiko provides the technology that allows the index to be issued and accessed on the blockchain.

The companies said the approach could be expanded to other indexes as interest in blockchain-based financial systems grows. The goal is to make it easier to access and use benchmark data, particularly as US Treasurys play a larger role as collateral in digital financial markets.

Canton Network is a public blockchain focused on institutional use, with more than 600 participating institutions and validators. It’s backed by Goldman Sachs and Citadel, among others. 

Related: Moody’s brings credit ratings onchain with Canton Network integration

US Treasurys lead the move onchain

The choice to start with the iBoxx index is deliberate. S&P Dow Jones Indices and Kaiko said US Treasury bonds are becoming the “base layer” for onchain financial systems, reflecting their growing role as collateral and a key entry point for institutional activity.

Putting the index onchain allows financial institutions building blockchain-based products to access a widely used Treasury benchmark more directly, without relying on traditional data feeds and licensing processes.

US Treasury products already dominate the tokenization market. According to industry data, more than $12.5 billion worth of Treasurys have been tokenized onchain, more than any other asset class.

Related: BitGo expands Canton Coin services with trading, onchain settlement