Swisscom and the four banks namely SEBA, Swissquote, Sygnum and Vontobel have together piloted the Swiss Institutional Digital Asset Reference Rate (SIDAR) in order to strengthen the legitimacy of the digital asset space and foster financial innovation.

With a joint proof of concept, the banks and Swisscom aims to lay the foundation for banking-grade reference prices in the digital asset world.

In contrast to existing digital asset price sources, the SIDAR is exclusively based on data from regulated banks and financial institutions.

As a robust and trustworthy benchmark, SIDAR can be used for creating innovative digital asset linked products, enabling a new wave of financial innovation.

Moreover, the SIDAR serves as a unique market indicator, reflecting digital asset market interest and activity among regulated participants.

During a two-week testing period the partners carried out daily fixings for Bitcoin and Ether where the banks acted as data contributors and Swisscom as the calculation agent.

Following the successful completion of the pilot project, Swisscom is now assessing a possible commercial roll-out together with the project partners.

Aetienne Sardon from Swisscom Fintech said,

“Switzerland, with one of the most advanced digital asset ecosystems in the world is ideally suited to bring institutional-grade digital asset benchmarks to life”,

Christopher Thomas, Head Digital Assets at Swissquote Bank said,

“Digital assets are an important and expanding theme at Swissquote Bank.

 

As a pioneer of crypto-assets, we are delighted to collaborate with other Swiss banks and continue to strengthen the Swiss ecosystem.”

Featured image credit: Photo by Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash