Switzerland-based SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) and banking powerhouse Citi have partnered to tokenize unlisted shares. Citi and SIX Digital Exchange collaborate to improve the $75 billion private equity sector by eliminating its slow paper transactions and hand-driven operations. The partnership between Citi and SDX seeks to remedy the industry’s enduring inefficiencies while fully digitizing late-stage pre-IPO equity markets. 

Citi and SDX Bring Tokenization to Pre-IPO Shares

The shift towards tokenized private market assets allows blockchain technology to bring its benefits to historically disconnected markets with low liquidity. Citi and SDX collaborated to launch this vision by converting pre-IPO equity holdings into tokenized assets. Through the partnership, Citi maintains responsibility for functioning as a custodian. It also maintains its status as an issuer agent to manage the tokenized versions of these late-stage equities on SDX’s blockchain-based Central Securities Depository (CSD) platform.

Mega-bank @Citi and Swiss digital assets exchange @SDX_global are teaming up to tokenize multibillion dollar pre-IPO shares market. By @IanAllison123https://t.co/xF6z8KO7zy

— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) May 6, 2025

The upcoming third quarter of 2025 will introduce a groundbreaking platform for open and secure trading of tokenized equities. The service will begin by omitting U.S. investors from its scope. Notably, it will target the Swiss and Singaporean markets and Asian regions. SDX establishes its operations in Asia to address regions where blockchain assets experience maximum demand. Moreover, blockchain technology continues its development trajectory.

Investors will experience minimal disruption because the new platform lets them transact tokenized equities. This initiative uses blockchain technology to ensure secure transactions and deliver straightforward solutions.

Solving the Private Equity Problem

Private equity operations that control rapidly expanding businesses that maintain longer private statuses face ongoing issues from traditional, outdated business processes. Buying or selling private shares puts investors and employees through lengthy PDFs. This results in transaction settlements that commonly stretch from weeks to months. The current process requires long durations with poor transparency alongside burdensome inefficiency.

Digital Asset Emerging Solutions Lead Nisha Surendran at Citi Ventures highlights that investors struggle because private market infrastructure lacks scalability. SIX Digital Exchange enables quick fund access to private equity investors without the private market delays through digital token solutions.

The platform utilizes SDX’s blockchain technology through its CSD-based tokenization framework to resolve these concerns. Trading digital tokenized assets functions on online trading systems to deliver improved access compared to private equity markets in previous times. The digital future in the recent collaboration may shape the entire industry’s digital path forward.

A Look at the Future: A Tokenized Market for Alternative Assets

The agreement between Citi and SDX demonstrates a key advancement in making real-world assets digital. Through tokenization, private equity markets worth trillions of dollars will become accessible to investors beyond their current narrow boundaries. The tokenization process enables more investors to tap into high-growth investment opportunities that have prevented them from participating.

Private market investors now enter a future that provides market liquidity and full transparency for opportunities that until recently only major institutions could access. Citi’s Global Head of Digital Assets Nadine Teychenne describes this new initiative as “a joined-up project across multiple businesses” within Citi. Bank officials have shown their dedication to securing regulated digital market access globally through this partnership.

The new tokenized platform provides investors with efficiencies while giving them access to greater private equity market liquidity. Digital platforms enable continuous trading through tokenized assets beyond what private equity markets can provide to investors regarding accessibility and flexibility options. The blockchain partnership between Citi and SDX represents the beginning of extensive digital change for every segment of the financial sector.