DBS Bank to tokenize structured notes on Ethereum for institutional investors

DBS, Singapore’s largest bank , announced Thursday that it will tokenize structured notes on Ethereum, accessible to eligible traders on crypto investment platforms and exchanges.

The bank has entered into agreements with three platforms — ADDX, DigiFT and HydraX — to distribute the tokenized notes, according to the press release .

"Asset tokenisation is the next frontier of financial markets infrastructure,” said Li Zhen, head of foreign exchange and digital markets at DBS. “Our first tokenised product, a crypto-linked note, addresses the growing institutional appetite for digital assets.”

Structured notes are financial instruments whose value is linked to that of an underlying asset or index. Its structure is often tailored to meet an investors’ unique requirements, such as boosting returns or reducing downside losses. They typically require a minimum investment of $100,000, DBS said.

For its initial token distribution, DBS will tokenize crypto-linked structural notes that are designed to provide investors with a cash payout when cryptocurrency prices rise. They are also structured to mitigate potential losses should cryptocurrency prices decline.

Each tokenized note represents a fungible $1,000 share of the original note. By providing tokenized structural notes, DBS aims to attract accredited and institutional investors with greater flexibility in managing their portfolios. According to the bank, Singapore has more than 2,000 single-family offices as the city-state becomes a more attractive hub for wealth management.

"Beyond cryptocurrency-linked notes, DBS will also tokenise common structured notes such as equity-linked notes and credit-linked notes," the release said.

DBS said its clients executed over $1 billion worth of trades involving crypto-linked structured notes in the first half of 2025.