Deutsche Börse is launching its own platform for cryptocurrencies. Swiss subsidiary Crypto Finance, which was acquired three years ago, is playing a key role.
Deutsche Börse is now offering services for the currently booming digital assets market. It has launched its own crypto spot platform called Deutsche Börse Digital Exchange (DBDX), the financial infrastructure giant from Germany announced on Tuesday.
Scoring Points With Security
This will be aimed exclusively at institutional clients and offer not only opportunities to trade, but also to settle and store popular digital tokens and coins.
The new DBDX’s buzzword is security. The platform is a fully regulated service. The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) granted several licenses for it just a few weeks ago. «Clients will have access to a comprehensive range of innovative and secure solutions from a single source and throughout the entire value chain,» the stock exchange operator promotes in its statement.
Swiss Subsidiary Takes on Key Role
DBDX has intentionally set itself apart from the unregulated field of cryptocurrency exchanges, where there has been significant disruption in the market for digital assets in recent years due to FTX’s bankruptcy and the billion-dollar fine imposed on Binance.
Conveniently, institutional clients can also hook into the new platform through their existing interfaces to Deutsche Börse. Deutsche Börse will be responsible for trading, while Crypto Finance, the Swiss fintech subsidiary of the exchange operator, will handle settlement and custody of digital assets.
Coup Now Starting to Pay Off
The latter acquired the startup three years ago in a highly regarded coup within the scene. It probably has not come cheap. At that time, finews.com estimated Deutsche Börse had paid up to 250 million Swiss francs for the two-thirds majority stake in the Swiss crypto startup. This was done with the still slightly vague intention of building an «ecosystem» for digital assets.
In launching DBDX, the German parent company is delivering a tangible outcome from the planning games of the past.
The new crypto trading platform is likely to cause a stir at Swiss stock exchange operator SIX, which has been operating with its own trading platform for digital assets since 2021 in the shape of SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) – note the similarity in the names. But SDX remains highly experimental, as its focus is on crypto stocks and bonds that are only gradually being issued.
Bitcoin & co. a sideshow
SIX offers trading in the most well-known cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ether & co., but through partners. The Swiss have also not yet been able to «tokenize» shares traded on SIX, such as Nestlé and Novartis, as this would cannibalize traditional trading.
The launch of DBDX could now force SIX to reconsider its pioneering achievement from three years ago.
