Switzerland’s Six Digital Exchange Launches With Blockchain Bond

The SDX blockchain bond is the first digital issuance that uses regulated market infrastructure, according to parent company SIX.

AccessTimeIconNov 18, 2021 at 5:45 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 4:02 p.m. UTC
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Six Digital Exchange (SDX), Switzerland’s long-awaited crypto-asset trading venue, has launched with its first live transaction, issuing a 150 million CHF ($162 million) digital bond using blockchain rails.

CoinDesk previously reported that SDX would go live this month, following the receipt of two licenses from Swiss markets regulator FINMA in September. The SDX blockchain bond is the first digital issuance to be done using regulated market infrastructure, according to a press release from parent company SIX.

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  • Credit Suisse, UBS Investment Bank and Zürcher Kantonalbank acted as the joint lead managers on the bond issuance.

    “The first issue of a tokenized bond on the SIX Digital Exchange as well as its listing and placement in the market proves that the forward-looking distributed ledger technology (DLT) also works very well in the highly regulated capital market,” said Thomas Zeeb, global head of markets at SIX, in a statement.

    In August, SDX announced that David Newns from State Street would take over as CEO after Tim Grant, formerly of R3 Innovation Lab, left the exchange to join Galaxy Digital. The SDX project was originally led by Martin Halblaub, who quit in 2019 over strategic differences.

    SDX is built using the permissioned Corda architecture supplied by R3, and operates as an integrated trading, settlement and custody infrastructure for digital assets.

    “This is one of the biggest changes we are likely to see in financial market infrastructure in our lifetime,” said Todd McDonald, R3′s co-founder, in a statement. “In fact, if ever there was a David & Goliath moment in the history of capital markets and financial market infrastructure, it’s the birth of Six Digital Exchange.”

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    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

    Ian Allison

    Ian Allison is an award-winning senior reporter at CoinDesk. He holds ETH.


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