Citi and SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) have announced a strategic collaboration to enhance access to private market assets through tokenisation, with a new solution expected to go live by Q3 2025. Unveiled at the Point Zero Forum in Switzerland, the initiative aims to address longstanding inefficiencies in traditional private markets for both issuers and investors.
Under the partnership, Citi will serve as a custodian and issuer agent for tokenised assets on SDX’s digital Central Securities Depository (CSD) platform. The service will focus on bringing late-stage, venture-backed pre-IPO equities to institutional and eligible investors via a compliant, digital-first framework.
“The goal is to broaden access to late-stage pre-IPO equities, which are in growing demand as companies remain private longer,” says David Newns, Head of SDX, in conversation with TradingTech Insight. “Access to these typically opaque and expensive markets is limited, and secondary liquidity is a particular challenge due to manual, non-standardised processes. Transactions are slow, paper-based, and lack transparency, making ownership tracking and changes difficult. The collaboration between Citi and SDX aims to address these issues through a more efficient, digital solution.”
The offering will also provide private companies with an alternative liquidity model that facilitates ownership transition for early investors and employees, while retaining control over the capitalisation table. The solution will combine Citi’s expertise in securities servicing and private markets with SDX’s fully regulated digital asset infrastructure.
“Private markets have long been seen as a strong use case for blockchain, but challenges remain around scalability, both in terms of issuance and distribution,” notes Newns. “As a regulated CSD, SDX serves as a bridge between blockchain infrastructure and traditional markets, helping reduce friction that has limited past efforts. Operating under Switzerland’s clear and established regulatory framework for digital securities, we’ve already issued nearly CHF 2 billion in real-world assets on-chain. Combined with Citi’s global reach, this collaboration is well positioned to address longstanding inefficiencies in private markets.”
As part of the initiative’s broader reach, Sygnum Bank and Singapore-based SBI Digital Markets will enable client access to the tokenised pre-IPO equities across Europe and Asia, further integrating the Swiss digital asset ecosystem with global markets.
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