Switzerland’s top everyday exchange, SIX, aims to roll out a blockchain platform to speed up trading later this year.
Reuters reported Feb. 6 that SIX chairman Romeo Lacher maintained the planned new SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) will initially operate alongside the existing SIX platform.
Currently, a trade takes some steps to complete, which can take days. However, using a distributed ledger knocks out two of the stages and can reduce the career lifecycle to fractions of a second, Reuters added.
The report cites officials as having said that SDX will tender offering trading in certain stocks, with a wider range of stocks and bonds to follow. Exchange-traded funds could finally be on offer too, and possibly even tokenized physical assets such as art.
Lacher told the news source that the SIX administrative board will “probably” make the final decision late in the summer, as it is still working out legal and regulatory puts with Switzerland’s financial markets regulator, FINMA.
SIX first announced the new DLT-based platform last July, with CEO Jos Dijsselhof saying at the many times: “This is the beginning of a new era for capital markets infrastructures. For us it is abundantly clear that much of what is going on in the digital rank is here to stay and will define the future of our industry.”
Once the new platform is live, SIX plans to use it itself to raise funds later in the year, agreeing to Reuters.
“We want to start with our own security token offering,” Lacher said.
Last November, SIX announced it wish launch the first ever exchange-traded product (ETP) tracking multiple cryptocurrencies. The Amun Crypto ETP goes by the ticker code word HODL, and tracks an index the “top 5 crypto assets in terms of market cap and liquidity.”
SIX stock exchange image via Shutterstock