Swiss Stock Exchange Operator SIX Is Beating the World at Cryptocurrency
Linked to a series of cryptoverse headlines this week, SIX Group, operators of Switzerland’s main domestic stock exchange the SIX Swiss Exchange, finds itself near a flurry of expansionary cryptoeconomic activity.
The group, comprised of a consortium of more than 50 Swiss banks, is already a recognizable incumbent in the digital assets ecosystem, having been the world’s first stock exchange to list exchange-traded products (ETPs) pegged to cryptocurrencies.
SIX is gaining attention once more, with new reports indicating the company has Ethereum tokens coming to its forthcoming digital exchange and that the consortium has held talks with Switzerland’s central bank over the institution issuing its own stablecoin.
Notably, those developments come after Swiss fintech startup Amun AG announced on Wednesday plans to issue what could become the fifth cryptocurrency ETP on the SIX Swiss Exchange, which counts itself among the 20 largest stock exchanges in the world.
Ethereum Tokens on Swiss Digital Exchange (SDX) Via Corda
SIX is set to release SDX around the first quarter of 2020. The company announced the platform last summer as a venue for tokenization and the trading of digital currencies and digitized versions of existing securities.
As the SDX’s arrival nears, the latest word on the venture is Ethereum tokens are now officially on the slate a la security token startup BlockState.
According to a June 27th report, the firm confirmed with CoinDesk it will be mirroring through smart contracts a handful of ERC20 tokens over to R3’s Corda Enterprise platform, which SIX has tapped to serve as the underpinning infrastructure of the SDX.
The dynamic will allow these “wrapped” Ethereum tokens to be readily transacted on the platform, which will also provide custodial and settlement services.
Ever the innovator, SIX is no stranger to embracing innovation early. Back in 1995 group’s Swiss Exchange was the first such exchange to ever completely automate the systems behind its services.
SIX to Central Bank: One Swiss Franc Stablecoin, Please!
Also making the rounds this week is news that SIX has asked Switzerland’s central bank to issue a stablecoin for the Swiss franc (CHF).
Announced at the 2019 Crypto Valley Blockchain Conference in Zug, Six Group’s leadership said they intended to let traders trade cash for a stablecoin on SDX and that the company had entered preliminary negotiations with the Swiss National Bank (SNB) regarding whether the central bank would issue that token.
A SIX spokesperson has since commented to domestic publication swissinfo that the company would prefer to have SNB back the token, the institution being Switzerland’s top banking authority:
“SDX member banks will be able to settle their trades and other obligations against tokenised CHF within SDX once we are up and running. To facilitate this, SDX would accept CHF payments from member banks in central bank money and issue equivalent tokenised CHF in SDX. The value of tokenised CHF would be pegged 1:1 with CHF at all times. We most definitely favour a central bank issued stablecoin.”
Amun AG Trying to List a New Multi-Crypto ETP on SIX
Also of note is that SIX Swiss Exchange’s fifth cryptocurrency ETP could be arriving shortly … if the exchange approves the product, that is.
That ETP, issued by Amun AG, is tied to the Bitwise 10 Select Large Cap Crypto Index. As the index’s name suggests, the new product would track a weighted basket of as many as 10 of the cryptoeconomy’s top assets per market capitalization.
The eight assets currently in that index include bitcoin, ether, XRP, bitcoin cash, litecoin, EOS, lumens, and ADA.
It would seem Amun AG has a reasonable shot at getting SIX’s approval. The firm has issued the first four cryptocurrency ETPs on the stock exchange: one for bitcoin (ABTC), one for ether (AETH), one for XRP (AXRP), and a basket product linked to the top five cryptocurrencies by market cap (HODL).
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William M. Peaster, Khareem Sudlow
