August 26 marks one year since Sygnum Bank received its banking and securities dealer licence from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), making us the world’s first digital asset bank. Sygnum was conceptualised two years earlier in 2017, with our focus on developing the strategy, plans and infrastructure needed to be a regulated bank. Our most important work was putting together our talented, passionate, multi-disciplinary team which would propel Sygnum to the next level.
Shortly after we received our banking licence, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) also granted us a capital markets services (CMS) licence, enabling us to pursue asset management activities for digital assets in Singapore, including our Digital Asset Multi-Manager Fund. Other new products included our Digital CHF (DCHF) token and expanding the available protocol tokens on our platform to include XRP.
In the past year, Sygnum continued to collaborate with key players to develop a trusted digital asset ecosystem. We participated in Phase 5 of Project Ubin in Singapore, a Temasek-led initiative exploring the use of DLT for clearing and settlement of securities transactions. We also invested into daura in a joint venture together with Swiss exchange, SIX. Most recently, we took part in a successful real-world test of market infrastructure for security tokenization, organised by Geneva-based Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) and involving the key DLT players in Switzerland.
Here are our top 10 highlights from the past year:
1) Receives conditional Swiss banking licence
10am CET August 26, 2019 – Sygnum, along with SEBA, receives conditional banking and securities dealer licence from Swiss regulator, FINMA. This is the first time this licence has been awarded to a digital asset specialist.
2) Sygnum becomes the world’s first digital asset bank
4:31pm CET August 30, 2019 – The same week, Sygnum is the first to fulfil all FINMA secondary criteria and our banking licence gains full legal force. Sygnum becomes the world’s first digital asset bank, and can now deliver secure and convenient banking services for digital assets to its customers, including institutional and private qualified investors, corporates, banks and other financial institutions. Read the story of the day here.
10:35am CET September 23, 2019 – Sygnum digitally onboards its first customers and banks its first digital assets on the two most important public blockchains, Bitcoin and Ethereum. Sygnum’s new operational status is a major landmark as it represents a concrete first step towards the mainstream adoption of digital assets into regulated finance.
4) First regulated digital asset manager in Singapore
October 31, 2019 – Sygnum is awarded a Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Sygnum launches its innovative digital asset investment strategies for institutional and private qualified investors in Singapore, and becomes the first and only digital asset specialist to be regulated in both Switzerland and Singapore.
5) Sygnum joins project Ubin in Singapore
November 2019 – Sygnum has been chosen as one of a small handful of industry partners to take part in the Temasek-led “Project Ubin Phase 5”, a collaborative public-private initiative to test the use of blockchain for clearing and settlement of payment and securities, where Sygnum will contribute a solution for cross border settlement of digital securities, leveraging our in-house developed digital CHF token.
6) Sygnum Bank in top 5 Swiss fintech startups
December 1, 2019 – Sygnum Bank recognised as one of the “Top 5 Swiss Fintech Startups” (out of 350) in Switzerland by Netzwoche. We also retained our place in Crypto Valley VC’s top 50 Blockchain ventures.
7) Sygnum Bank and SIX acquire stake in daura
December 18, 2019 – Sygnum Bank and SIX announce investments in daura. SIX’s involvement in our trusted global ecosystem for digital assets strengthens standards and streamlines workflows.
8) Launch of Sygnum’s Digital CHF (DCHF) token
March 23, 2020 – Sygnum Bank launches its CHF-pegged settlement token, the first to be issued with a regulated Swiss bank with a full digital asset banking suite.
9) XRP now available at Sygnum Bank
April 30, 2020 – Sygnum Bank launches XRP, the third most capitalised protocol token globally, on its banking platform,
May 6, 2020 – Sygnum Bank won Global Finance magazine’s Top Innovators 2020 award for digital asset banking products and services in the Corporate Finance category.