SIX Receives Regulatory Approval to Launch Digital Token Exchange
- SIX obtained two licenses from FINMA to operate a stock exchange and depository for blockchain-based securities.
- The bourse is yet to announce when the new product, called SDX, will launch.
Shutterstock
SIX, Switzerland’s stock exchange, announced it has obtained two licenses from FINMA, the country’s market regulator. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the licenses will enable the company to operate a stock exchange and depository for blockchain-based securities.
The new SIX Digital Exchange, or SDX, will enable investors to trade, settle, and store digital tokens through a single venue. Doing so through SIX’s proprietary infrastructure will provide investors with an assurance they’re backed by “the highest Swiss standards of oversight and regulation,” the company said.
FINMA’s approval makes SIX one of the first major bourses to launch an exchange dedicated solely to digital assets. The company first announced plans to launch a digital bourse back in 2018, and has been chasing regulatory approval since. Thomas Zeeb, SIX’s Global Head of Exchanges, said the company couldn’t afford to launch in territories without the necessary regulatory permissions and that the business model, controversially adopted by Uber, doesn’t work.
“This is an important milestone in bringing the digitalization of capital markets into the mainstream, but it is only the beginning,” he said in a statement on 10 September. “We will continue to work with our clients, regulators, and other stakeholders to shape the markets of the future.”
SIX is yet to announce when the new product will launch, as well as which assets it would allow investors to trade.
- Sam Bankman-Fried’s legal counsel had claimed he should not be charged with any crimes involving FTX as it was not regulated in the U.S., only FTX.US was.
- The DoJ said the claim was irrelevant as SBF was charged for violating existing laws for misappropriating customer assets.
Former CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the Federal Court in New York after pleading not guilty, 3 January, 2022.
lev radin/Shutterstock
- The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority continues its crackdown on crypto ATMs in the country, and has disrupted a total of 26 machines since the start of the year.
- The regulator warned the public back in March 2022 that all crypto ATMs in the country were operating illegally, and issued a “shut down or face further action” order.
- Anonymous sources have said that the offices of Binance Australia were searched on Tuesday as part of an ongoing investigation into the exchange’s derivatives operations.
- Australia’s financial regulator, who conducted the reported search, canceled Binance Australia’s derivatives license back in April, and the exchange no longer offers the service in the country.