The clue is not in the name: AsiaNext is thinking globally not regionally

A Future of Finance podcast with Neil Thomas, Chief Commercial Officer of AsiaNext.AsiaNext, a 24/7, Singapore-based institutional-only digital asset trading platform, opened for business in January 2024. Owned by the Swiss stock exchange (SIX) and SBI Holdings of Japan, AsiaNext emphasises its sound governance and regulatory compliance, which its owners and management believe are the keys to attracting institutional money. The new exchange has already secured two operating licences from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and has applied for a third. But easily the most striking ambition of the new exchange is its commitment to a global strategy, in which AsiaNext will form a triad with the Swiss Digital Exchange (SDX, owned by SIX) in Zurich and Osaka Digital Exchange in Japan (where SBI is a major shareholder). To make a reality of this ambition, much depends on the behaviour of others. Technologists must create the tools to facilitate the transfer of digital assets between platforms (interoperability) and central banks must provide the trusted, on-chain fiat currency (CBDCs) to pay for them. But AsiaNext is moulded in the image of its parents and its management does not hesitate to speak of ten-year time horizons as well as the returns that are waiting to be collected on the investment in radical change. Dominic Hobson, co-founder of Future of Finance, spoke to Neil Thomas, Chief Commercial Officer of AsiaNext, about the origins, character and destiny of the first self-consciously global digital asset trading venue. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.