The Swiss Stock Exchange announced an investment in Custodigit, the joint venture created by Swisscom and Sygnum in 2018. With this agreement, SIX Digital Exchange, Swisscom and Sygnum Bank enable Swiss banks to offer access to digital assets for their customers.
The Swiss Stock Exchange today agreed to take a major stake in Custodigit and to partner with Swisscom, Switzerland’s leading telecoms & IT company, and Sygnum, the first digital asset bank to be formally recognized by Switzerland’s regulator, FINMA.
Crypto gateway for banks
Subject to the appropriate regulatory approvals, SIX Digital Exchange and Custodigit will provide a unique Institutional Digital Asset Gateway. The gateway will support the complete investment value-chain from trading, to smart order routing, to settlement, to custody as well as access to secondary markets. This partnership gives banks – and their customers – trusted, safe, secure, compliant yet seamless access to crypto-currencies and digital assets. Depending on a bank’s strategic objectives, it has the option to leverage Custodigit’s offering either through a direct platform integration solution, or a managed sub-custody setup as already provided by Sygnum.
"Digital assets will fundamentally change the financial industry. By combining the strengths of Switzerland's leading financial infrastructure providers, we are enabling banks - in Switzerland and beyond - to quickly enter a new financial services era. A historic opportunity." - Johannes Höhener, Head FinTech Swisscom
Launching next year
An initial joint service, based on the already available Custodigit platform, will be released in Q1 2021 with plans to add significant capabilities throughout the year. The Institutional Digital Asset Gateway will enable banks to develop new financial services and yet to be imagined products around cryptocurrencies and digital assets for their customers. This partnership will also build upon the recent SIX investment in Omniex.
"This partnership with SIX offers us the ability and conviction to strengthen and globalize our offering. It enables us to bring more value to what is clearly going to be the future of capital markets." - Peter Hofmann, CEO Custodigit
