Karla Barker 
A milestone for Italian capital markets
Italy’s capital markets have taken a tangible step into on-chain finance. UniCredit, one of the country’s major banks, has completed what appears to be Italy’s first tokenized structured note specifically designed for private investors. The transaction happened through the bank’s Wealth Management platform, which I think is significant because it shows these technologies are moving beyond institutional players.
The deal was executed on December 19, 2025 in Milan. BlockInvest provided the technology infrastructure, while Weltix operated the digital register. What’s interesting here is that everything remained fully compliant with Italy’s FinTech Decree. Sometimes people assume blockchain innovation means working outside regulations, but this case shows the opposite.
How the product works
The structured note was tailored for professional clients within UniCredit’s Wealth segment. It offers capital protection with returns linked to Euribor 3M. The entire lifecycle of this instrument can now be managed digitally thanks to registration on a public blockchain.
I’ve noticed that operational complexity tends to be a major pain point with traditional structured products. The paperwork alone can be overwhelming. Here, that complexity seems to be reduced while transaction traceability improves. BlockInvest’s platform handled the digitalization of the financial instrument, its representation on blockchain, and integration with Weltix’s register.
What strikes me is that a previously fragmented workflow across multiple systems and intermediaries has been consolidated into a single digital infrastructure. UniCredit tested an end-to-end issuance and management process using this unified architecture. Yet the core features—risk control and investor protection—remain anchored to existing regulations.
The efficiency question
Tokenization of sophisticated investment products doesn’t necessarily mean compromising regulatory oversight. This case shows that investor protection rules can coexist with distributed ledger technology. Wealth managers can apparently embed digital asset technologies into their traditional offerings without starting from scratch.
Through DLT, issuance and settlement timelines are significantly reduced compared to standard capital market procedures. Transaction traceability becomes native and independently verifiable on a public ledger. Operational processes achieve higher efficiency than legacy models, at least in theory.
The tokenized structured note serves as a live test case for how on-chain workflows might streamline post-trade activities. It’s one thing to talk about potential efficiencies, but actually executing a transaction reveals what works and what doesn’t.
Looking ahead
This transaction confirms the flexibility of BlockInvest’s infrastructure in supporting multiple use cases on the same technological base. The same architecture could potentially be extended to other asset classes and structures, including minibonds and additional wealth management tokenization initiatives.
Each future project will still need to respect strict regulatory requirements and investor safeguards, of course. But the successful execution of this deal underscores Italy’s growing role in regulated digital securities.
By combining UniCredit’s distribution capabilities with BlockInvest’s technology and Weltix’s role as Register Operator, the partners have introduced what appears to be a repeatable model for public blockchain registration of financial instruments. The tokenized structured note becomes both a commercial product and a proof-of-concept for broader digital transformation.
In practical terms, this operation shows how a major Italian bank, supported by specialized fintech and an authorized register provider, can use blockchain to issue and manage complex instruments more efficiently while staying within existing regulations. It might open the door to wider adoption of on-chain securities in coming years, though only time will tell how quickly this spreads.
Perhaps the most telling aspect is that this targets private investors specifically. Previous blockchain initiatives in finance often focused on institutional players. Widening access to tokenized instruments for individual investors could change how wealth management operates, assuming the technology proves reliable and cost-effective over time.