Khazanah Nasional Berhad and the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) have priced the country’s first tokenised sukuk, a RM100 million issuance that runs on distributed ledger technology. The tokenised sukuk creates a cryptographically secure digital record, or “digital twin”, of the underlying Islamic bond, allowing it to be issued and transferred as a token on a shared ledger.
The deal forms the inaugural tranche of Khazanah’s Sukuk Danum Programme, an Islamic Medium-Term Notes (IMTN) programme of up to RM20 billion in nominal value. The tranche carries a one-year tenure and is structured under the Shariah principle of Wakalah bi al-Istithmar, in which an investment agent manages funds on behalf of investors.
CIMB Group and Maybank acted as financial institutions on the deal, with Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia (CGC), Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP), OCBC Bank (Malaysia) and other institutional investors participating. CIMB had earlier committed to the Khazanah and SC tokenised sukuk pilot and supports the programme across structuring, execution, custody and lifecycle servicing.
For Khazanah and the SC, the issuance is intended as a controlled test of how DLT can compress the operational steps in sukuk origination, settlement and post-issuance servicing. The SC executed the transaction under its pilot programme for market innovation, which it says lowers the technical and regulatory barriers for future corporate issuers by providing a functional template.
“This is not about introducing a new product for its own sake, but about building the foundations for a more efficient and transparent market over time,” said Dato’ Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir, Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad.
A pilot anchored in the Capital Market Masterplan
SC Executive Chairman Dato’ Mohammad Faiz Azmi said the pilot reflects the direction set under the Capital Market Masterplan 2026 to 2030, the SC’s five-year blueprint to grow Malaysia’s capital market to between RM5.8 trillion and RM6.3 trillion by 2030. The masterplan identifies bond and sukuk market modernisation as a priority alongside Islamic finance innovation.
“Tokenisation offers potential to improve transparency, broaden participation and support a more vibrant market, and initiatives such as this allow us to test those possibilities in a controlled and credible manner.
By working closely with market participants, we are building the regulatory and market foundation for the next phase of development in Malaysia’s capital market,” he said.
Building on Malaysia’s tokenisation push
The Khazanah and SC issuance arrives as Malaysia’s broader asset tokenisation agenda accelerates. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is running a three-year asset tokenisation roadmap through its Digital Asset Innovation Hub, which has already drawn participation from CIMB, Maybank, Standard Chartered and Capital A across tokenised deposits and ringgit stablecoin trials.
A separate industry estimate has placed Malaysia’s tokenised asset market potential at US$43 billion by 2030, with sukuk identified as a major addressable category.
For Malaysia’s RM2.4 trillion Islamic capital market, tokenisation is being framed as a way to fractionalise sukuk holdings, automate Shariah-compliant payment structures, and provide continuous visibility of issuance and settlement data. The Khazanah deal validates that workflow at a sovereign-backed scale before the SC widens access.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Malaysia, based on image by ttonaorh via Freepik
