Financial institution Citi intends to digitalize private businesses by listing them on SIX Digital Exchange through tokenization
Citi Partners with Switzerland's SIX Digital Exchange to Tokenize Private Market Assets
In a move to revolutionize the private market space, global financial services giant Citi has announced plans to partner with Switzerland's SIX Digital Exchange (SDX). This collaboration aims to tokenize the equity of venture-backed, late-stage companies using SDX's regulated blockchain platform.
SDX, which operates on a permissioned blockchain under conventional regulations, has so far mainly focused on digital bonds and cryptocurrencies. The partnership with Citi could potentially make SDX's technology more accessible to a wider range of investors, including institutional ones.
Citi will become a CSD member alongside several Swiss and international banks, including Standard Chartered. This partnership is part of Citigroup's broader strategy to build a compliant and scalable financial infrastructure amid evolving regulatory clarity, particularly in the stablecoin and digital asset space.
The progress in potential U.S. regulations, such as the GENIUS Act, has accelerated Citi's plans with SDX, allowing them to advance tokenization use cases in private markets. While no recent public announcements detail a new or expanded phase specifically for venture-backed late-stage equity tokenization beyond this general strategy, Citi’s ongoing efforts and partnership with SDX indicate significant commitment and future potential in this domain within 2025 contexts.
David Newns, Head of SDX, stated that this initiative will distinguish itself in the industry. Marni McManus, Citi Country Officer & Head of Banking for Switzerland, Monaco & Liechtenstein, added that the partnership promises to simplify and digitize a manual and paper-driven industry in private markets.
This collaboration could potentially enable the efficient distribution of shares in mature international private companies, creating new opportunities for liquidity and investment. With significant appetite for tokenizing the equity of world's biggest tech brands that are still private, such as Stripe and Revolut, this partnership could mark a significant step toward modernizing private market transactions for late-stage private companies.
SDX consists of a regulated DLT-based central securities depositary (CSD) and a marketplace. The partnership with Citi, along with collaborations with Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum and Singapore's SBI Digital Markets, aims to drive demand from their client investors. The aim is for SDX to go live in the third quarter of 2025.
While Forge Global, the marketplace for unicorn stocks, was expected to enter the tokenization space, it did not happen. However, with Citi's involvement, SDX could potentially carve out a unique position in the market, bringing a new solution to market using technology to solve challenges in private markets for issuers and investors.
- Citi's collaboration with Switzerland's SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) for tokenizing private market assets will leverage SDX's regulated blockchain platform, potentially making its technology more accessible to institutional investors in the banking and finance industry.
- The partnership between Citi and SDX aims to simplify and digitize a manual and paper-driven industry, creating new opportunities for liquidity and investment, particularly in the tokenization of the equity of mature international private companies like Stripe and Revolut.
- The progress in potential U.S. regulations, such as the GENIUS Act, has accelerated Citi's plans with SDX, aligning with Citigroup's broader strategy to build a compliant and scalable financial infrastructure amid evolving regulatory clarity in the digital asset space.
- SDX's technology, including its regulated DLT-based central securities depositary and marketplace, is positioned to drive demand from client investors due to collaborations with Citi, Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum, and Singapore's SBI Digital Markets, with SDX aiming to go live in the third quarter of 2025.
