As digital assets continue to gain traction globally, tokenization is increasingly discussed as a key driver of change in capital markets. From the emergence of new asset classes to the modernization of financial market infrastructure, the shift toward digital assets is raising important questions for market participants, custodians, and regulators alike. In this interview, Marco Kessler, Head of Product and Business Development for Digital Assets at SIX, shares his perspective on how tokenization could reshape post trade processes, the evolving role of custodians, and why cross market collaboration will be critical for the future development of digital asset ecosystems.
Hi Marco, to start with the broader picture, tokenization is often described as a catalyst for the transformation of capital markets. From your perspective, what role will tokenization play in shaping the next phase of market infrastructure?
Tokenization is increasingly recognized as having a transformative nature for capital markets. In many ways, it represents an evolutionary step in how capital markets and finance operate.
I tend to look at this transformation from two main perspectives. The first relates to the emergence of new asset classes, particularly digital assets such as cryptocurrencies. While these were initially seen as emerging assets, they are now becoming established and are seeking their place within the broader capital markets ecosystem.
This means that market infrastructure providers and financial institutions need to integrate these assets safely and robustly into existing value chains. That includes enabling services that are specific to digital assets, such as staking, while ensuring seamless processes for market participants. Ultimately, institutions should be able to support new asset classes without facing unnecessary operational barriers when responding to client demand. At SIX, this is also part of our strategy: integrating digital assets across the financial market infrastructure value chain in order to provide value to the market.
Beyond new asset classes, tokenization is also seen as a way to modernize existing financial market infrastructure. How could tokenization reshape post trade processes and operational models in the coming years?
The second area concerns the underlying infrastructure of financial markets. Much of today’s market infrastructure and back-office systems were originally built decades ago. While these systems have been continuously updated, the underlying architecture often reflects a very different era of financial markets.
Tokenization opens the door to modernizing this infrastructure. It can enable greater automation, improved efficiency, and the possibility of operating markets on a 24/7 basis. Beyond cost and efficiency gains, it also creates opportunities for entirely new business models that would have been prohibitively expensive or technically impossible within legacy systems.
This modernization could support innovations such as greater flexibility in post-trade processes, improved investor experiences, and more individualized investment strategies. In that sense, tokenization is not just about digitizing assets but about fundamentally rethinking how market infrastructures operate.
As financial markets move toward digital assets, the role of custodians is also evolving. What are the main operational and regulatory considerations international custodians face when supporting tokenized assets across different jurisdictions?
The entire ecosystem is evolving, including custodians, market infrastructures, and regulators. Over the past few years, we have seen strong momentum globally in the development of digital assets.
In the United States, the new administration has given a significant push to the digital asset space at both the regulatory and business level. In Europe, the topic has also been gaining momentum for some time, particularly through regulatory initiatives such as the DLT Pilot Regime and MiCA. These developments are now accelerating further in the context of broader initiatives such as the Savings and Investments Union.
Switzerland, meanwhile, has already established a very advanced regulatory framework for digital assets and tokenization. This regulatory clarity has enabled important developments in recent years, including the progress made by SIX in the digital asset space.
Overall, the direction of travel across jurisdictions is increasingly aligned. Regulators and market participants are discussing similar topics and moving toward comparable frameworks. This alignment is important because it enables the market to progress more effectively.
At the same time, we need to remain mindful that different jurisdictions are at different stages of maturity. As digital asset markets evolve, it will be essential to ensure compatibility and interoperability between regulatory frameworks and infrastructures. The goal should be to reduce barriers to adoption rather than inadvertently creating new ones.
In that sense, there is a delicate balance between fostering innovation and ensuring robust, safe development. Global collaboration and interoperability will be key to achieving this.
Finally, looking at collaboration across markets, Europe is seeing growing interest in digital assets and new forms of financial market infrastructure. How important is cross market collaboration, such as between Switzerland and Spain, in accelerating the adoption and scalability of tokenized assets?
Cross market collaboration is absolutely essential if we want to move this transformation forward in a meaningful way.
Within SIX Group, this topic is particularly relevant because we operate both in Switzerland and Spain. Historically, developments in these two markets may sometimes have been perceived separately by external observers. For example, Switzerland has seen major innovation through SDX, while Spain has developed strong capabilities through BME and its involvement in European digital asset initiatives.
Going forward, however, we are increasingly joining forces across these markets. As part of the integration of SDX into SIX, we aim to provide access to digital asset capabilities across the entire client base of our financial market infrastructure.
At the same time, we are combining the experience and expertise that has been built in both Switzerland and Spain, as valuable experience has been gathered in both markets through many successful initiatives such as the participation in ECB’s wholesale CBDC programs and the issuance of digital bonds.
By bringing together these complementary capabilities, we believe we can create significant benefits not only for SIX Group clients but also for the broader market. Collaboration of this kind can also support regulators by enabling the sharing of knowledge, experience, and best practices.
Beyond our own group, cooperation across the wider financial industry is equally important. Financial market infrastructures, banks and other institutions across Europe share a common goal: building a safe, efficient and future ready capital market ecosystem. Cross market collaboration will be a key driver in achieving that vision.
Marco, thank you very much for sharing your insights.