Swiss Stock Exchange SIX Takes Aim at Competing with Binance and Coinbase

Swiss Stock Exchange SIX moves into crypto, leveraging a crypto-friendly environment, challenging major players like Coinbase and Binance.
By Bhushan Akolkar
Swiss Stock Exchange SIX Pitches Direct Competition to Binance, Coinbase

Highlights

  • With its experience running a crypto derivatives firm in Singapore, SIX sees an opportunity to expand in Europe.
  • SIX's crypto trading platform will initially cater to institutional investors and focus on spot crypto and derivatives trading.
  • Switzerland's clear rules on digital assets and token classification provide a favorable environment for expanding crypto trading.

In the latest announcement, Swiss Stock Exchange SIX announced that it’s now exploring the digital assets industry with the goal to expand its footprint in Europe. As a result, the SIX trading platform will directly challenge top market players like Binance, Coinbase, and OKX.

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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”.

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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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Bhushan Akolkar
Bhushan is a seasoned crypto writer with over eight years of experience spanning more than 10,000 contributions across multiple platforms like CoinGape, CoinSpeaker, Bitcoinist, Crypto News Flash, and others. Being a Fintech enthusiast, he loves reporting across Crypto, Blockchain, DeFi, Global Macros with a keen understanding in financial markets. 

He is committed to continuous learning and stays motivated by sharing the knowledge he acquires. In his free time, Bhushan enjoys reading thriller fiction novels and occasionally explores his culinary skills. Bhushan has a bachelors degree in electronics engineering, however, his interest in finance and economics drives him to crypto and blockchain.
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