BX Digital receives Switzerland’s first FINMA license for a DLT trading facility
On 12 March 2025, FINMA granted BX Digital AG the first license to operate a DLT trading facility. The license became legally effective on 14 May 2025 after all conditions were fulfilled. The trading facility is currently in the final preparation phase for go-live.
What is a DLT trading facility?
Switzerland’s DLT Act (in force since 2021) created a new category of market infrastructure that combines multilateral trading with post-trading services (clearing, settlement and central custody) for digital assets. BX Digital is also the first financial market infrastructure for trading and settling DLT securities on a public, permissionless blockchain.
What BX Digital will offer
- Instruments & segments: Admission of DLT securities, including Swiss ledger-based securities and eligible foreign uncertificated securities, across dedicated segments for equities, bonds, derivatives and ETPs. The scope will expand over time (e.g., collective investment schemes and other digital assets).
- Participants: Participation in the trading facility is reserved for regulated financial institutions (e.g., securities firms and entities supervised by FINMA or foreign authorities).
How settlement works (at a glance)
- Trade execution (off-chain): Trades are matched in a traditional system; the securities leg settles via a delivery-vs-payment (DvP) smart contract on Ethereum.
- Settlement: The securities leg settles via a delivery-vs-payment (DvP) smart contract on Ethereum, and the cash leg is processed through the SIC system of the Swiss National Bank using a trigger solution. BX Digital has been admitted by the SNB as a third-party system operator of SIC.
- Finality and timing: T+0 intended settlement (ISD) with immediate, gross settlement after a short, technical delay to ensure blockchain finality, until 23:59:59 CET on trade date.
- No counterparty risk, segregable assets: The design aims to eliminate counterparty risk and treats temporarily held DLT securities as segregable custody assets under Swiss law.
Admission & standards
Admission and ongoing obligations are governed by FINMA-approved self-regulatory rules. Noteworthy requirements:
- Issuance on Ethereum using compatible token standards (typically ERC-20).
- Issuer evidence of legal and technical compliance, supported by standardised legal opinions or recognised industry standards (e.g., CMTA).
- Annual declaration and evidence, reporting on key changes (e.g., smart contracts), and technology-related duties to safeguard lawful status in the event of DLT network changes.
Part of a strong group
BX Digital was initiated by our sister company BX Swiss AG. Both are part of Boerse Stuttgart Group, Europe’s sixth-largest exchange group—bringing proven exchange expertise to the next generation of digital market infrastructure.
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