The full-service digital exchange will enable institutional investors and accredited investors to tap into an ecosystem for digital assets.
The DBS Digital Exchange will provide an ecosystem for fundraising through asset tokenisation and secondary trading of digital assets including cryptocurrencies, DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta announced in a media conference on Thursday.
Tokenization, trading and custody are all «natural areas a bank should go into,» Gupta said. The bank's plans for a digital exchange were leaked in October, when its website accidentally went live in late October, before it received regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Investors will have access to the exchange via DBS entities like its securities or private banking arm, Gupta said, noting that crypto trading will begin as early as next week.
Explosive Growth
Gupta cited the explosive growth in the tokenized assets industry, and how they now form an important and growing part of the wealth and asset allocations of investors. He said the bank's ability to create origination and liquidity will be its distinguishing factors in an increasingly competitive market.
DBS will create a subsidiary for the DBS Digital Exchange, in which Singapore Exchange will take a 10 percent stake. Both parties will explore opportunities to deepen the liquidity, scale and growth of Singapore’s capital markets in the growing area of digital assets and digital currencies, DBS said.
