Kima Completes Israel’s First CBDC Tokenized Stock Purchase
Kima Network, a blockchain-based peer-to-peer payment protocol, has achieved a major financial milestone by successfully executing the first tokenized stock purchase transaction using a digital shekel (Israel’s CBDC). The transaction, part of the Bank of Israel’s digital shekel pilot program, enables direct exchanges between traditional and digital financial systems without the need for an intermediary.
Decentralized Execution Without an Intermediary
This milestone transaction was conducted on Kima’s PeerTrade test trading platform, which was developed to demonstrate seamless exchanges between buyers and sellers without the need for an intermediary. In the transaction, buyers use digital shekels to purchase tokenized stocks, while sellers receive regular shekels converted from digital shekels into their bank accounts.
To facilitate the transaction, Kima used two sets of API calls in a sandbox environment designed by the Bank of Israel. The buyer’s funds are locked until the shares are transferred and are immediately released to the seller upon completion, protecting both parties throughout the process. The digital shekels are then converted into fiat currency to make the payments usable in traditional financial markets
Throughout the entire process, Kima’s technology ensures a secure and verified transaction that is executed instantly and seamlessly. Acting as a decentralized escrow, Kima operates without any intermediaries or smart contracts, fees, delays, or unforeseen issues.
A milestone in financial interoperability
Eitan Katz, CEO of Kima, emphasized that today’s financial system is burdened with barriers and intermediaries that slow down transactions and add unnecessary costs. Kima’s solution has enabled an unprecedentedly efficient transaction, executing delivery versus settlement in real time without the need for an intermediary escrow or smart contract. This is the first time a decentralized chain has facilitated a transaction that integrates both digital and fiat currencies.
Katz also highlighted that the flexibility of the protocol allows citizens and financial institutions to make seamless, cross-asset and multi-currency transactions without complex conversions or restrictions on asset types.
Kima Infrastructure and Applications
Kima is a blockchain-based payment protocol designed to bridge the gap between traditional finance and cryptocurrencies, enabling secure and efficient transactions across different asset classes. Its technology removes barriers between financial systems, facilitating seamless integration. The protocol supports a wide range of applications, including cross-border payments, peer-to-peer commerce, centralized and decentralized financial services (CeFi/DeFi), cross-chain DEX swaps, and multi-channel wallets—effectively connecting fiat and crypto in a unified, user-friendly ecosystem.
On the downside:
Regulatory uncertainty: Kima’s global expansion may face challenges due to inconsistent regulations across markets.
CBDC adoption uncertain: Kima’s success depends on broader CBDC adoption, which is still in its early stages worldwide.
Why This Matters
Kima’s integration of CBDCs with cryptoassets could reshape the financial system, providing a faster, more secure way to connect traditional finance with digital currencies—without the friction, smart contracts, or intermediaries that slow down transactions and increase costs, potentially transforming the global payments infrastructure.