SIX CEO Thomas Zeeb Skeptical of Launch of Crypto Trading But Optimistic with ICOs

The CEO of securities services at Switzerland’s top stock exchange SIX, Thomas Zeeb, has bared that the company would most likely not launch crypto trading.

This is according to a report seen on Business Insider.

Zeeb said that cryptocurrencies are currently “not a priority”, taking into consideration the fact that there are a other platforms that deliver Bitcoin (BTC) trading services. More importantly, Zeeb said that there are some “reputational” issues surrounding Bitcoin, also suggesting that Bitcoin is all about “hope and hype.”

But Zeeb remained optimistic about digital assets. Zeeb explained that digitals coins such as Initial Coin Offering (ICO) tokens are “here to stay,” with mainstream adoption probably coming in “five years.”

Zeeb compared digital currencies with derivatives trading, saying that he is “absolutely convinced” that crypto is “where derivatives were in the early ’90s.” Zeeb also mentioned that digital assets’ adoption would be happening “a lot faster than the 30 years it’s taken derivatives.”

The CEO said that the forthcoming digital assets exchange — currently being developed by SIX — is geared to introduce a regulation-focused way of trading ICO tokens in to allow participation by institutional investors.

He emphasized that that the primary task of the exchange would be to fill in the gap between crowdfunding and ICOs, which is now taken up by venture capital or private equity.

“There is demand from institutional clients to find a way to legitimize and bring asset safety into play.”

The Six Group boss also urged the digitization of current securities or exchange-traded funds because of the ability to allow fractional ownership, naming the benefits of transforming some exotic assets such as art galleries collections to tokens.