What Are Bearer Bonds?
Bearer bonds are government- or corporate-issued debt instruments that differ from traditional bonds in that they’re unregistered as investment securities. Consequently, no records exist that list the owners’ names. As a result, whoever physically holds the paper on which the bond is issued is the presumed owner, giving them a greater measure of anonymity than more common bond offerings present. But since no investor names physically appear on bearer bond papers, it’s nearly impossible to recover such bonds if they’re lost or destroyed.
Bearer bonds differ from traditional bonds in other ways as well. While both …
