Exchanges
UBS Managing Director Oi Yee Choo Becomes iSTOX CCO
This week, the Singapore-based digital securities exchange iSTOX announced the appointment of Oi Yee Choo as the firm’s new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). The maneuver follows the larger trend of tokenization platforms hiring from traditional financial institutions over the last year. Additionally, iSTOX gains significant stature with the decision as Choo garnishes much respect in the Singapore market.
Oi Yee Choo
Notably, Oi Yee Choo has over 20 years of experience in the region. Her accolades most recently include a stent as the Managing Director of UBS. Here, the talented Choo was responsible for the firm’s Singapore investment strategy.
MAS
It’s precisely this experience that makes Choo the perfect fit for the iSTOX platform. Importantly, the firm recently became a part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore‘s (MAS) Fintech Regulatory Sandbox. The MAS sandbox allows Fintech Companies to test innovative financial products and concepts in a safe and more efficient manner.
Oi Yee Choo
Discussing the decision to join iSTOX, Choo explained the inevitability of a shift in the financial markets. She took a moment to speak on the pro-blockchain stance of Singapore, and why iSTOX’s positioning in the space makes them uniquely prepared for the upcoming digital revolution.
Oi Yee Choo – A Deep Understanding of the Market
Additionally, iSTOX Co-Founder, Darius Liu shed some light on the firm’s next moves after the appointment. He explained that the company needed someone with the reputation and experience of Choo. iSTOX needed an individual with a deep understanding of the nuances of the Singapore securities market.
Oi Yee Choo – CCO iSTOX
Also, the company wanted someone with relationships across Singapore’s financial networks. Choo provided all of these features. Liu went on to say that Choo possessed all of these traits, plus she has a deep institutional understanding of the challenges faced by issuers and investors.
iSTOX
The iSTOX digital exchange utilizes cutting edge technology, such as blockchain, to streamline the issuance, trading, and management of digital securities. The company is at the forefront of the tokenization sector in the region.
Series A Funding
As previously reported, iSTOX completed Series A funding earlier in the month. Importantly, company officials decided it was a smart strategy to not disclose the amounts of funds invested publicly. However, the company did acknowledge that the Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group (KKP) was the only investor needed to meet the company’s crowdfunding goals.
iSTOX – First Regulated Exchange for Digital Securities in Asia
iSTOX seeks to be the first regulated digital securities exchange in Asia. As such, the firm would hold tremendous power in future market developments in the region. As part of this strategy, iSTOX developers want to create an all-inclusive blockchain ecosystem.
iSTOX – Moving Forward
iSTOX continues to make headlines for its pro-regulatory stance in the market. The firm is set to be a major player in the Singapore securities sector moving forward. There is no doubt that Choo’s two decades of experience and network will play a critical role in the company’s future.
In preparation for the launch of the highly-anticipated SDX exchange, SIX announced the successful acquisition of a stake in the duara platform. Daura is a token issuance and registry platform which has seen considerable success over the last year. Now, SIX and its team of collaborators seek to utilize duara’s proprietary software to further the SDX exchange’s capabilities.
A Strategic Advantage – SDX Exchange
As part of SIX’s SDX strategy, the firm partnered with Swisscom, Sygnum Bank, Custodigit and daura. The company intends to utilize the best protocols from each platform in the creation of the SDX exchange. Together, SIX’s team seeks to create a complete security token ecosystem. Here investors and businesses can plan, issue, trade, and manage their security tokens from one easy to understand interface.
Discussing the groups’ strategy, Johannes Höhener, daura chairman and Head of fintech at Swisscom spoke on the importance of the joint development work. Höhener pointed out the team’s other tasks. These tasks include helping to create a new standardizing for the tokenization of Swiss assets. She also touched on the company’s plans to expand into operating private blockchains as part of the overall strategy.
Additionally, Peter Schnürer, CEO of daura took a moment to speak on the benefits and security gained from both investors and companies. He explained some of these benefits including the increased transaction speeds. Typically, traditional securities can take days to settle. The SDX system will allow real-time trading and settlement. Impressively, the platform will be able to tokenize assets in just hours.
Players in the SDX Exchange Project
SIX managed to put together an experienced team of blockchain firms to bring the SDX exchange to life. For example, Sygnum Bank continues to make headlines regarding its September launch date as the world’s first digital asset bank. Also, Deutsche Bourse saw heavy publicity this year after it completed a successful proof of concept of its securities trading ledger. These tests proved many of the advantages obtained when settling securities transactions using distributed ledger technology. Notably, the technology can also tokenize and exchange equity and cash tokens
Daura – SDX Exchange
Duara is an advanced digital share register. The firm also specializes in the issuance of security tokens. In the duara ecosystem, one Tokenized share equates to one newly created share. The reduced costs and added speed simplifies the entire share issuance process. Duara enable enables SMEs to sell stakes in their businesses while reducing the costs of crowdfunding campaigns significantly.
SIX Makes Moves
SIX appears to be ready to take the next steps towards the development of the SDX exchange. The firm’s acquisition of duara shares proves that the company is ready and willing to take all the necessary actions to ensure the success of SDX. Consequently, you can expect to see a lot of hype surrounding the launch of this highly-anticipated platform in the coming months.
SBI Investment
It is fair to say that SBI Holdings has decided to go all-in on blockchain based endeavours as of late. This has been made evident through various high profile investments. The most recent of which include Ripple, Securitize, and now Boerse Stuttgart – the latter of which we will discuss here today.
In an effort to usher in higher levels of adoption surrounding digital securities, SBI Holdings has invested in multiple branches of the Boerse Stuttgart group.
- Boerse Suttgart Digital Exchange
- Boerse Stuttgart Digital Ventures
Plans Moving Forward
In their announcement, it is clear that the rationality behind this new partnership is geared around global expansion. With SBI Holdings operating within Japan, and the various branches of the Boerse Group operation throughout Europe, the pair should find the partnership mutually beneficial.
Beyond simple expansion, the pair of companies closed out their announcement by elaborating on their plans. They stated,
“The SBI Group and the Boerse Stuttgart Group are partners in the digital asset business in Asia, including Japan, as well as in Europe. We will work together to build a global digital asset finance ecosystem utilizing blockchain.”
Commentary
Upon announcing these investments, representatives from each, SBI Holdings and Boerse Stuttgart, took the time to comment. The following is what each had to say on the matter.
Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Holdings, states,
“Due to the decentralized nature of digital assets, it is our top priority to find globally suitable partners to build our digital asset ecosystem. The SBI Group, with its trading platform for digital assets and other relevant companies, will make full use of the cooperation with the Börse Stuttgart Group to respond to the global customer interest in digital assets.”
Alexander Höptner, Chairman of the Management Board of Boerse Stuttgart GmbH, states,
“Asia and Europe are currently the fastest growing markets for digital assets. With the SBI Group, we have found an ideal partner to realize our vision of an efficient, global ecosystem along the value chain of digital assets. In addition to the exchange of knowledge and technology, the collaboration also covers the issuance, listing and trading of digital assets across borders, as well as brokerage services and building the first global bridge for custody.”
Boerse Stuttgart
The Boerse Stuttgart Group consists of various branches such as Boerse Stuttgart Digital Exchange, and Boerse Stuttgart Digital Ventures. These two branches, in particular, have a focus on blockchain based endeavours, including the eventual creation of a secondary marketplace for digital securities.
SBI Holdings
An acting subsidiary of SBI Group, SBI Holdings, was launched in 1999. The company maintains headquarters within Tokyo, Japan, where they seek out, and establish, strategic partnerships with high potential companies.
CEO, Yoshitaka Kitao, currently oversees company operations.
In Other News
In recent months, each of the companies discussed here today have found themselves in our news feed. Whether launching a digital exchange, or making strategic investments, both companies have been quite active. The following articles are just a couple discussing recent moves by both.
Boerse Stuttgart Launches Digital Exchange
Securitize to Expand within Japan after Recent Investment
Bankruptcy Petition
Unpaid Suppliers
Additionally, a host of suppliers have taken suit against the company. These suits run the gambit from unpaid bills to the alleged fraud. The well-known cybersecurity firm, White Hat Ltd is one of the company’s claiming losses due to DX.Exchange actions. Another lawsuit lists Bee2See Dotan B.S. Solutions. This is the firm that handled DX.Exchange targeted marketing. Even the company supplying the servers never got paid – Malam Team.
Writing on the Wall – DX.Exchange
Employees and suppliers knew to take action earlier in the month after the firm closed its doors unexpectedly. At the time, DX.Exchange owner Pinhas Patarkazishvili cited the rising costs and dwindled profits the exchange had left. He told employees that he was searching for a merger or acquisition and if that he was unsuccessful, the company would permanently cease operations.
DX.Exchange
- DX.Exchange