Swiss Exchange SIX To Shift To Blockchain Based Trading Platform

A Reuters report of November 13th, 2018, claims that one of the leading stock exchanges of Switzerland, SIX Swiss Exchange is planning to shift to a blockchain based system, from their existing trading platform. The oldest exchange in the country, SIX, is also the first one to adopt automated trading and believes that the traditional system will be taken over by the blockchain based system in a matter of 10 years. Stock and bond dealing on SIX and most other exchanges are now conducted digitally, but in many cases, the processing steps are often done through protocols of post and paper.

SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) is slated for a mid-2019 release, which will remove two of the three steps required to complete a transaction, on a traditional platform. This will nullify the amount of time which sometimes ends up taking several days and finish them in a fraction of seconds.

Head of Securities and Exchanges and Director of SIX, Thomas Zeeb is of the opinion that this new digital platform will be the answer to a growing requirement of speed, in the market, and it will only be a matter of time before brokers, bans, insurance companies, and significant asset managers switch to this system, on seeing the very palpable advantages of this system.

SDX, according to Zeeb will be a proper response to the imminent threat posed by startups. He said,

“They are pushing into our business and especially the banks. That’s a big danger.”

The company need to iron out a few legal issues with the Financial Market Authority watchdog and requires approval from the Swiss Government before it can go live. Zeeb told Reuters SDX will be offering services to trade in selected stocks, which would then be followed by other stocks and later bonds and possibly exchange-traded funds as well as assets that are not securities, such as paintings or vintage cars, could one day change hands on SDX.

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.