An aspiring Swiss cryptocurrency bank is partnering to build financial market infrastructure for digital assets. Switzerland’s stock exchange is conspicuous in its absence from the project.
Sygnum, a Swiss and Singaporean crypto firm which aims for a banking license, is joining up with Swiss telecommunications firm Swisscom and with Deutsche Boerse, the three said in a statement on Monday. Financial details of the Swiss and German partnership weren’t disclosed.
The partnership is an attempt to build the infrastructure needed for the trading, storage, and management of cryptocurrencies – a building block which is currently missing. It comes as Switzerland’s stock exchange, which isn’t part of the tie-up, tackles digitizing traditional securities trading but shuns crypto itself, as finews.com reported.
Cross Ownership
Sygnum, which has won weighty backers but isn’t yet fully licensed to operate, is to provide the banking services including custody, deposits, lending, and capital issuance via token as well as brokerage and asset management.
For its part, Deutsche Boerse take an undisclosed stake in Custodigit, which is a joint venture between the other two firms to provide access, transaction, payment and storage solutions for digital assets. The German exchange will also take a stake in Daura, which is a bid to pave the way to the capital market for smaller firms in particular via coin issue.
SIX Shuns Crypto
Germany’s muscling into the project comes as SIX builds a digital exchange, dubbed SDX, in parallel to its traditional securities trading platform using blockchain. Swisscom said it spoke to various market participants about the project, and will continue to do so. SIX wasn't immediately available for comment.
In all likelihood, Frankfurt simply beat Zurich to the punch: The Swiss exchange has expressed little desire to trade crypto assets on SDX. The partnership also reveals a burgeoning rivalry between SIX and Swisscom, which is angling for a bigger piece of business for banks – and blockchain technology is a welcome opportunity to do so.
Deutsche Boerse, a key SIX rival, wins a bridgehead into Switzerland with the tie-up. Sygnum, Swisscom, and Deutsche Boerse said the first products and services will launch later this year, without further specifying. The tie-up is subject to anti-trust approval.
