Came across this yesterday and the existence of perpetual bonds was pretty fascinating to me. Apparently perpetuals were there first, and the concept of maturity only came later. The Financial Times has an article on the Yale curator collecting the interest in Houten [0].<p>This isn't the only perpetual bond still active - NYSE [1] and Euronext [2] hold them as well. I don't think it makes economic sense to collect the interest anymore given how little it is in today's currency, but they've survived ~400 years including both World Wars. They were still honored when Netherlands was under Nazi occupation - Why stop now?<p>[0] <a href="https://archive.is/20230927101941/https://www.ft.com/content/9a13d322-bab7-4463-99c6-972cfe0eb4ec" rel="nofollow">https://archive.is/20230927101941/https://www.ft.com/content...</a>
[1] <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213684464/worlds-oldest-bond-is-gearing-up-for-its-400th-birthday-its-still-paying-interes" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213684464/worlds-oldest-bond...</a>
[2] <a href="https://www.euronext.com/en/news/euronext-amsterdam-receives-historic-interest-payment-perpetual-lekdijk-bovendams-bonds-dating" rel="nofollow">https://www.euronext.com/en/news/euronext-amsterdam-receives...</a>