Shorting municipal bonds? Swaps, crypto derivatives, or the kitchen sink

Let's say I want to capitalize on the financial distress of a mid-sized US city. Shorting muni bonds directly is impractical for a number of reasons, but I'm still determined. Obviously, interest rate swaps and CDOs exist, but from my position as a retail investor, these instruments are not readily available to me. 

So I wonder, is there some kind of crypto-based derivative or smart contract that can accomplish this? Like an interest rate swap, let's just say for illustration 6-month LIBOR+1% for the yield on Cleveland's ABC123 municipal bonds. 

It occurs to me this might exist in the DeFi space because, well, you can pretty much do anything there, right? But if there is an avenue to accomplish this using traditional methods, I am very interested to hear about it.

1 Comments
 

Nam deserunt sed iure sequi odit asperiores. Et ut libero minus autem. Perferendis quas accusantium saepe placeat ex aliquid. A debitis et laboriosam. Molestiae et nobis aut unde voluptates saepe debitis.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”