Swiss Plan First End-to-End Exchange to Trade Digital Assets

(Bloomberg) -- SIX, the owner of Switzerland's securities exchange in Zurich, is creating platform for trading digital assets, boosting a nascent industry that some countries are trying to suffocate.
 
The new platform will offer a “fully integrated, end-to-end trading, settlement and custody service,” the world's first to do so, the bourse said in a statement Friday. The parent exchange, regulated by Finma and the Swiss National Bank, intends that the new SIX Digital Exchange will enjoy the same standard of oversight and regulation.

Switzerland has been building a so-called crypto valley centered around the town of Zug, close to Zurich, while nearby Liechtenstein has also lured business offering favorable regulatory treatment. In contrast, India's central bank has prohibited commercial banks from dealing with cryptocurrency firms, and China's financial authorities have essentially banned virtual currencies.

“This is the beginning of a new era for capital markets infrastructures,” SIX Chief Executive Officer Jos Dijsselhof said in the brief note that didn't mention cryptocurrencies by name. “For us it is abundantly clear that much of what is going on in the digital space is here to stay and will define the future of our industry.”

SIX Digital Exchange targets a safe environment for trading digital assets, and will be able to make previously untradable assets tradable, by tokenizing them, SIX said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Winters in Zurich at pwinters3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Todd White

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