Switzerland’s leading stock exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, has announced a partnership with Omniex - a San Francisco based firm that develops trading platforms designed for institutional investors targeting the crypto asset markets.

According to a Feb. 25 press release published by SIX, the partnership will provide the firm and its clients with a gateway to digital exchanges including crypto and market makers. The deal has also seen SIX become an Omniex shareholder after making an investment of an undisclosed sum.

The partnership will extend to SIX’s forthcoming SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), in addition to future assets listed on the SDX platform.

SIX responds to demand for crypto gateway

SIX Executive Board member, Thomas Zeeb, stated that the exchange had identified a “growing need in the market to access crypto,” adding: “Our new collaboration will provide a standardized and secure gateway via SIX as the trusted partner of the financial industry.”

Omniex’s CEO and Co-Founder, Hu Liang, said that the partnership is slated to produce “an end-to-end solution for the trading and settlement of digital assets, including the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX),” when it goes live.

The Omniex executive also praised Switzerland’s permissive regulatory apparatus surrounding cryptocurrencies, asserting that the “Swiss market leads other major financial markets in the adoption of legislation and regulation.”

SDX slated for 2020 launch

SIX announced that it would launch a digital asset exchange on July 6, 2018. The stock exchange described the forthcoming platform as “a fully integrated trading, settlement, and custody infrastructure for digital assets” overseen by Swiss regulators.

On Sept. 23, 2019, SIX deployed an SDX prototype to demonstrate settlement using distributed ledger technology, security token issuance, and live trading. SIX currently plans to conduct an “Initial Digital Offering” for SDX during mid-2020, before launching the digital asset exchange during the fourth quarter.