News, data and analysis on tokenized assets, market design and digital economic systems.
The digital asset arm of Switzerland's SIX Group, the first FINMA-authorised stock exchange and central securities depository for tokenized securities, and one of the few venues where a tokenized security has settled against central bank money.
The digital asset arm of Switzerland's SIX Group, authorised by FINMA on 10 September 2021 as the first stock exchange and central securities depository for tokenized securities, so issuance, settlement and custody sit inside one regulated post-trade environment rather than across separate providers. It issued the first digital bond by a regulated market infrastructure in 2022 and has supported more than CHF 2bn of digital securities issuance, including deals for UBS, Commerzbank and the World Bank, in Swiss francs and euros. Several of those bonds have settled against the Swiss National Bank's wholesale central bank digital currency under Project Helvetia, which makes it one of the few venues where a tokenized security has changed hands against central bank money rather than a commercial substitute. In 2026 SIX also obtained FINMA approval to provide crypto custody through the same licensed depository. On 5 May 2026 SIX announced FINMA approval to merge SIX Digital Exchange AG into SIX SIS AG, so the digital depository is no longer a separate legal entity and issuers now settle digital and conventional securities inside one licensed CSD.
Developments in which SIX Digital Exchange is a named party, newest first.
Africa Finance Corporation raised CHF 350m of five-year paper on 12 August, listed on SIX Swiss Exchange and deposited with SIX Digital Exchange under its existing $5bn note programme. About 90 per cent of demand was Swiss domestic.
AFC raised CHF 350m of five-year paper at a coupon of 1.4925% on 12 August 2026, admitted for trading on SIX Swiss Exchange and deposited with SIX Digital Exchange, under its US$5bn Global Medium-Term Note Programme. About 90 per cent of demand came from Swiss domestic investors, and it is the first such issue by an African institution.
The Swiss National Bank and SIX Digital Exchange announced a pilot issuing a wholesale central bank digital currency in Swiss francs on SDX's regulated platform, to settle tokenised bond transactions with real value. The pilot ran from December 2023 to June 2024 with six commercial banks participating.
SIX Group issued a CHF 150m five-year bond with a 0.125% coupon, split into a CHF 100m digital tranche listed on SDX Trading and a CHF 50m conventional tranche on SIX Swiss Exchange, with the two parts exchangeable. SIX described it as the first bond issuance with a purely digital tranche in a fully regulated environment; SDX had received exchange and central securities depository licences from FINMA on 10 September 2021.
What issued, what settled, what the supervisors changed, with the numbers behind it and a note on what the numbers do not show. One email, Thursday mornings.
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