Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund has issued the country's first tokenised sukuk, bringing blockchain-based capital market infrastructure into domestic Islamic finance for the first time. Khazanah Nasional Berhad, in collaboration with the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), priced a MYR 100 million (about $25 million) issuance on 28 April 2026, structured under the Shariah principle of Wakalah bi al-Istithmar and carrying a one-year tenure. CIMB Group served as sole principal adviser, sole lead arranger and sole facility agent; Maybank acted as joint lead manager, custodian and primary subscriber. The issuance forms the inaugural tranche of Khazanah's Sukuk Danum Programme, an Islamic Medium-Term Notes programme with an authorised ceiling of MYR 20 billion (about $5.1 billion). Investors included Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP) and OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, alongside other institutional participants. A regulated first for Malaysia's capital markets The SC has framed the transaction as a pilot template for future corporate sukuk issuers, executed under a collaborative approach designed to test tokenisation mechanics within existing market integrity and investor protection standards. Through the transaction, participants collaborated across the issuance value chain to align operational and technical workflows and deepen market familiarity with tokenised instruments, with the SC stating that this lowers the technical and regulatory barriers for future corporate issuers. SC executive chairman Dato' Mohammad Faiz Azmi linked the initiative to the Capital Market Masterplan 2026–2030, the regulator's five-year blueprint which identifies bond and sukuk market modernisation as a priority. Malaysia's Islamic capital market stood at MYR 2.7 trillion (about $604 billion) at end-2025, and the SC has previously indicated that tokenisation is being explored as a mechanism to fractionalise sukuk holdings and broaden investor access beyond the qualified investor base that has historically dominated the market. Dato' Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir, managing director of Khazanah Nasional, said the pilot represents a practical step towards exploring how digital technology can improve how capital market instruments are issued and managed, and that the initiative is anchored in strong governance and aligned with existing frameworks. The pilot sits within a wider regulatory framework taking shape around tokenised assets. Bank Negara Malaysia launched its Digital Asset Innovation Hub in June 2025 to supervise bank-grade tokenisation trials, with both Maybank and CIMB among the institutions admitted to test tokenised deposit use cases under BNM oversight. In March 2026, the SC separately launched FIKRALab as a testing platform for tokenised Islamic capital markets products, extending the dual regulatory architecture across both the monetary and securities tracks. Building on an operational track record The Khazanah transaction follows Maybank's separate blockchain pilot on 25 March 2026, when the bank executed an on-chain MYR/SGD FX conversion for Yinson Holdings Berhad and delivered near real-time cross-border payment via its permissioned blockchain. That prior transaction tested the payment and settlement layer; the Khazanah sukuk tests the primary issuance and custody layer. Chu Kok Wei, chief executive officer of group wholesale banking at CIMB, said the transaction demonstrates how digital capabilities can be explored within existing capital market structures in a disciplined manner, while remaining aligned with established market practices. Dato' Sri Khairussaleh Ramli, president and group chief executive officer of Maybank, noted that tokenisation offers issuers alternative funding channels while enabling broader investor access through fractionalisation and reduced transaction friction, and referenced the bank's intent to extend tokenisation solutions across ASEAN subject to regulatory readiness in each market. The SC has stated that the initiative sets the stage for future phases that will continue to modernise Malaysia's capital markets. Separately, Bank Negara Malaysia has committed to publishing a policy position on tokenised deposits and ringgit stablecoins by end-2026, drawing on evidence from the Digital Asset Innovation Hub pilots underway with Maybank, CIMB and Standard Chartered Malaysia.
