SIX, the owner and operator of Switzerland's main stock exchange, has announced plans to launch SIX Digital Exchange, an exchange of cryptographic assets fully legalized by the country's financial regulator and central bank.
In an announcement made on Friday, the Swiss Exchange operator SIX revealed its new encryption initiative that ensures that "it will be the first market infrastructure in the world to offer end-to-end negotiation, settlement and custody services for digital assets".
Nicknamed the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), the blockchain platform will boost the tokenization of existing customer values and allow the issuance and trading of digital assets.
"The digital exchange will allow SIX customers to trade, liquidate and safeguard digital assets in the same way they do now in the traditional world," said SIX chief of securities and exchange Thomas Zeeb, describing SDX as an all-in-one platform. in one.
SIX also stressed that the platform will see "the same standard of supervision and regulation" of FINMA, the financial regulator of Switzerland and the National Bank of Switzerland, the country's Central Bank.
"This is the beginning of a new era for capital market infrastructures," said SIX CEO Jos Disjsselhof, announcing the launch of the next exchange that will launch services in mid-2019.
He added:
"For us, it is very clear that much of what is happening in the digital space is here to stay and will define the future of our industry. The financial industry now needs to bridge the gap between traditional financial services and digital communities. "
To this end, SIX will also make it easier for its customers to offer their own tokens through initial coin offers (ICO) to raise funds. "We are putting together a team of developers and advisors that will help customers create ICO and new products around that," added Zeeb, underscoring SDX as "an ecosystem."
Specifically, the exchange operator pointed out that SDX will not be used to allow direct trading of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum and, instead, will help introduce traditional financial market participants to convert their banking and unbanked assets into digital assets.