Six Swiss Exchange To Launch Their Own Token

Switzerland-based Six Swiss Exchange has announced the launch of its own token within 2021. The development was reported by financial news outlet Finews on May 6.
The Head of Securities & Exchanges and Director at SIX Swiss Exchange, Thomas Zeeb, has said in an interview that SIX wants to be able to tokenize existing securities — equities, fixed income, funds.
“A prerequisite is to have an appropriate regulatory environment in place. Whether we’ll have this by then will be critical. As we test the first phase early next year, along with the regulatory dialogue, we’re building a bridge to the second piece. That’s when the magic really begins to happen,” he said.
Zeeb further elaborated that the nature of tokens on SIX could either be structured ones such as real estate funds or the token of the exchange itself.
He also mentioned that a certain set of regulations must be kept in mind by the people issuing this token and must be cleared to get listed on the exchange’s portal. Specifically, he asserted that projects “can’t just do an ICO whitepaper, hype it up a little bit, and then launch.”
The executive made his reservations with cryptocurrency trading clear while pointing towards the difficulty in ensuring compliance with anti-money-laundering and customer-centric laws:
“The fatal flaw in trading cryptocurrency is not knowing who’s behind the trades and where the coins are coming from – by design […] The way bitcoin is currently set up and traded, it wouldn’t meet the criteria for SDX,” he said.
The Six Swiss Exchange will according to him set up an infrastructure that ensures the maintenance of existing rules around assets and at the same time, guarantees investor protection.
The creation of SDX through the last two years has cost SIX a “double-digit million amount,” said Zeeb, and they will be adding 30 more people by the end of the year. With these additions, the total staff will end up at 100 people. To work on the platform, the R3 Corda Enterprise blockchain has been collaborating with SIX.
On the future of tokenized securities, he expressed belief that the new method of issuance may eventually replace traditional shares because of the increased flexibility that it offers to companies.
Similar to the Six Swiss Exchange several major stock exchanges are seeking involvement with the emerging cryptocurrency industry, such as the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSE), London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Stock of Exchange of Thailand (SET).

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.