Swiss stock exchange SIX is now exploring the digital assets sector thereby setting a base in Europe to trade cryptocurrencies. Thus, the SIX exchange seeks to create a space for itself in the market largely dominated by top market players like Binance, Coinbase, and OKX.
Swiss Stock Exchange SIX to Leverage Crypto-Friendly Laws
The decision to venture into the crypto sector comes amid advanced crypto laws in Switzerland that allow large traditional investors to participate in the rapidly evolving crypto space.
Amid the lack of crypto regulatory rules, traditional financial firms have shied away from setting up crypto trading platforms. However, things are changing slowly as crypto becomes a recognized asset class in the market.
Earlier this month, Swizz Bank ZKB announced the launch of Bitcoin and Ethereum trading facilities along with crypto custody. Speaking to the Financial Times, Bjørn Sibbern, global head of exchanges at SIX Group, said:
The company is examining creating “a platform where we can help facilitate trading, whether it’s [spot] crypto or whether it’s derivatives.”
As said, Switzerland is one of the most crypto-friendly countries in Europe with clear rules for the trading and custody of digital assets. Furthermore, it has also been swift in classifying different types of tokens. Bjørn Sibbern added that the crypto trading venue from Swiss Stock Exchange SIX would be initially available to institutional players only. He added:
“We are looking at other ways for us to expand in Europe and as a part of that, we are also looking at [whether] crypto should be a part of it. We see the trend that more and more global banks and institutions are looking at crypto”.
Challenging Coinbase and Binance
With crypto exchange Coinbase making inroads into Europe per the MiCA regulations, stock exchange SIX finds a good opportunity to tap. SIX already has good experience with the digital assets sector as it runs a crypto derivatives firm dubbed AsiaNext in Singapore, in partnership with Japan’s SBI Group.
“We are looking at should we do something similar in Europe,” Sibbern said, adding that the company “could also say this is something we do not want to pursue”.
Furthermore, venturing into crypto trading would be a notable expansion for SIX, with the stock exchange facilitating two of the largest IPOs in Europe this year.
In July, the Swiss government-owned bank PostFinance also introduced crypto trading services for users.
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