Citi and Switzerland's SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) have announced a collaboration to tokenize traditional private markets, aiming to modernize the sector using SDX's blockchain-based Central Securities Depositary (CSD) platform. This initiative, unveiled at the Point Zero Forum, plans to facilitate the tokenization, settlement, and safekeeping of assets by the third quarter of 2025, making late-stage pre-IPO equities accessible to institutional investors globally. The project provides a compliant framework for issuers, enhancing liquidity management while allowing investors to efficiently access high-growth private companies. Citi will act as the digital custodian and tokenization agent, in response to increasing client demand for digital asset access. The partnership comes amidst growing interest in tokenization, as major financial institutions like BlackRock have also started exploring digital asset solutions. Citi views this partnership as an opportunity to digitize the traditionally manual processes of private markets, reflecting their confidence in the future of tokenization, supported by developments in their private blockchain operations and previous proof-of-concept projects for tokenizing private equity funds.

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