Japanese SBI and Swiss SIX plan joint crypto venture in Singapore

Switzerland’s principal stock exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, and Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings have announced a joint cryptocurrency-related venture.

According to a Dec. 8 announcement, the firms' digital asset-related subsidiaries, SIX Digital Exchange and SBI Digital Asset Holdings, are launching a new platform in Singapore. 

The venture will target regulated institutional clients, implementing technologies and market expertise from both SBI and SIX. The platform will include a wide range of services like issuing, listing, trading, CSD infrastructure and custody of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, as well as regulated digital asset securities. 

The platform is expected to launch by 2022, subject to regulatory approval by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state's main financial regulator and de facto central bank.

Yoshitaka Kitao, the CEO of SBI Group and chairman of SBI Digital Asset Holdings, said that the new venture is expected to “establish a powerful institutional corridor between Europe and Asia.” 

“This is an important step in building the necessary global infrastructure for widespread institutional adoption of digital assets,” Kitao said.

SIX Digital Exchange chairman Thomas Zeeb stated, “SBI Group is a natural partner for SIX given their strong position in Asia and their significant commitment to growing institutional digital asset markets.”

Both SIX and SBI have been actively involved in digital asset markets globally.

SBI is running its own crypto business through its dedicated subsidiary SBI VC Trade. In October 2020, SBI’s foreign exchange and derivatives arm SBI Liquidity Market also acquired TaoTao, a crypto exchange in which Yahoo Japan’s YJFX once had a 40% share. 

SBI is a major partner of Ripple, implementing financial products based on XRP, one of the biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization at publishing time.

Owned by SIX Group, SIX Swiss Exchange is one of the world’s largest stock exchanges. The company is known for multiple listings of major crypto exchange-traded products like Bitcoin Capital Active ETP.