Boerse Stuttgart launches Seturion for tokenized asset settlement in Europe

Boerse Stuttgart Group, Europe’s sixth-largest exchange operator, has launched a blockchain-based settlement platform designed to handle cross-border transactions of tokenized assets across the region.

According to a Thursday announcement, the platform targets banks, brokers, trading venues and tokenization platforms. The system supports both public and private blockchains, with settlement possible in central bank money or on-chain cash.

The platform, called Seturion, has already been tested by local banks as part of blockchain trials conducted with the European Central Bank (ECB).

The group said its own exchanges will connect first, with the solution already live at BX Digital, Boerse Stuttgart’s regulated DLT trading venue in Switzerland. Other market participants will be subjected to supervisory approval.

Related: Stock exchanges push back on tokenized stocks in SEC letter: Report

Real-world assets surge as tokenization takes hold

Across Europe, banks, fund managers and fintech startups are ramping up experiments with tokenization, which involves issuing traditional financial instruments such as bonds, equities, and real estate products on blockchains. 

The effort is taking place under the EU’s DLT Pilot Regime, a framework that came into effect in March 2023 to let regulated players trial blockchain infrastructure in capital markets.

In Switzerland, Taurus, a startup backed by Deutsche Bank, launched a Solana-based custody and issuance platform in February, enabling banks to manage tokenized equity, debt, structured products and funds. 

Robinhood rolled out a tokenization-focused layer-2 on Arbitrum for its European customers in June, allowing nearly round-the-clock trading of US stock and ETF tokens. 

On Tuesday, Switzerland’s Backed Finance expanded its xStocks platform to Ethereum, adding tokenized versions of about 60 US equities including Nvidia, Tesla, Amazon and Meta.

While tokenization is picking up steam in Europe, it reflects a broader global trend.

In the United States, BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized money market fund launched in March 2024 in partnership with Securitize and later expanded to the Solana blockchain. The fund pays daily accrued dividends to investors each month through its Securitize platform.

New York–based SkyBridge Capital recently said it would tokenize $300 million in assets on Avalanche, nearly doubling the network’s real-world asset base.

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