Citigroup (Citi) and the digital asset trading platform of the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX Digital Exchange, SDX) announced a collaboration on 5/6 to tokenize Pre-IPO assets, targeting the unlisted equity market valued at $75 billion. The project is expected to go live in the third quarter of 2025, with Citigroup serving as the custodian and issuing agent, responsible for secure custody and process coordination of tokenized assets.
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ToggleWhy tokenize? Because pre-IPO processes are outdated and complex
Currently, buying shares of an unlisted company involves:
- Numerous PDFs
- Handwritten documents
- Lawyer review
- Process takes 5-8 weeks to settle
After investing, you can't directly see it in your wealth management account, only in paper contracts or other separate platforms.
Citi handles custody and issuance, SDX provides blockchain infrastructure
SDX, the digital asset division of the Swiss Stock Exchange, has been operating as a regulated "Blockchain Securities Registration Platform" (CSD) since 2021:
- SDX is built on R3's Corda distributed ledger technology
- Through Switzerland's "Dematerialized Securities Regulations"
- Allowing users to see these new investment products directly in their bank accounts, just like buying regular stocks.
Citigroup's role is to be the asset custodian and issuer for SDX.
This is a global strategy, starting with Switzerland, Singapore, and Asian markets
Citi states that the platform will not be open to US investors, but qualified institutional investors and high-net-worth individual clients from other regions can participate.
Initial focus markets include:
- Switzerland
- Singapore
- Other Asian regions
Sygnum and SBI Digital Markets also assist
Singapore financial institution SBI Digital Markets and digital asset bank Sygnum will also assist in this project, helping to introduce more pre-IPO private equity stocks for tokenization.
The goal is to create a complete ecosystem from the asset side (unlisted companies) to the demand side (investors).
(Citibank uses Avalanche (AVAX) to test tokenized private equity funds)
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