FQX leverages Sygnum Bank’s DCHF stablecoin for instant settlement of electronic promissory note
ZURICH, 17 September 2020 – Sygnum Bank and FQX, a Swiss Fintech, announce the settlement of an eNoteTM, or electronic promissory note, leveraging Sygnum Bank’s Digital CHF (DCHF) stablecoin. Instant settlement in these transactions enables the direct flow of liquidity from investors to businesses, reducing counterparty and fraud risk, as well as lowering costs.
Digital asset-powered settlement makes liquidity faster and easier to access for businesses seeking finance, and has the potential to ease pressure on the global USD 1.5[1] trillion trade financing gap
The eNote provides attractive and easily transferable investment opportunities to investors via an ISIN
Sygnum Bank’s DCHF, pegged 1:1 with the Swiss Franc, reduces counterparty risk via instant delivery versus payment and instant settlements, and is backed by institutional-grade trust
Businesses looking to grow often face delays in obtaining funding due to complex and paper-intensive processes that contribute to a growing USD 1.5 trillion global trade finance gap. Promissory notes are a widely-used traditional legal instrument enabling companies and individuals to obtain finance based on an unconditional promise to pay, providing much needed flexibility and resilience in areas like trade and corporate finance. By moving these time-consuming and multi-party processes onto the blockchain in the form of an eNote, transactions can be settled instantly, with the liquidity flowing directly to the businesses seeking finance.
“Transferable electronic promissory notes make liquidity available where it is needed for businesses, while also offering attractive investment opportunities for financial institutions,”
says Frank Wendt, FQX Chief Executive Officer. “Each eNote issued via FQX is assigned an ISIN number, making it easily transferable to other investors,” he added.
Due to Distributed Ledger Technology’s (DLT) smart contract capabilities and fast development times, innovative financial instruments are rapidly emerging in the marketplace. However, a digital, smart form of money that enables instant settlements is needed for these instruments to maximise their efficiency and scalability. We believe Sygnum’s DCHF – a programmable, bank-issued stablecoin - is the ideal medium to deliver these benefits.
“With this eNote, Sygnum’s DCHF demonstrates the potential of smart digital assets to transfer value instantly and directly between two parties and provide faster liquidity,”
says Martin Burgherr, Sygnum Chief Client Officer. “As we move towards an agile and more digital economy, this capability will accelerate the development of more performance-based financial products, underpinned by institutional-grade trust," he added.
Each eNote is recorded and stored on the Swiss Trust Chain, a banking-grade DLT-system maintained by Swisscom and the Swiss Post. The electronic signatures used to securely issue and transfer the eNotes on the FQX platform are provided by Swisscom Trust Services.
“Innovation and trust are at the heart of Swisscom. We are proud to support FQX and Sygnum with our leading electronic signature and blockchain technology to launch eNote. This successful first transaction marks yet another step towards a fully digital economy,” says Benoit Strölin, Head of Swisscom Trust Services. “eNote proves why DLT will play a key role in enterprise use cases,“
adds Roland Cortivo, Swisscom Head of Swiss Trust Chain.
About Sygnum
Sygnum is the world’s first digital asset bank, and a digital asset specialist with global reach. With Sygnum Bank AG’s Swiss banking licence, as well as Sygnum Pte Ltd’s capital markets services (CMS) licence in Singapore, Sygnum empowers institutional and private qualified investors, corporates, banks and other financial institutions to invest in the digital asset economy with complete trust. Sygnum operates an independently controlled, scalable and future-proof regulated banking platform. Our interdisciplinary team of banking, investment and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) experts is shaping the development of a trusted digital asset ecosystem. The company is founded on Swiss and Singapore heritage, and operates globally. To learn more about Sygnum, please visit www.sygnum.com
Sygnum Bank AG
Uetlibergstrasse 134a
8045 Zürich
Switzerland
Media Contact:
Marcus Balogh
T: +41 44 266 67 67
Corporate Contact:
Dominic Castley
T: +41 58 508 21 01
About FQX
FQX provides a secure, efficient and compliant infrastructure for electronic negotiable instruments (eNI™). FQX enables liquidity crossing borders and markets in a banking-grade DLT environment. FQX applies the best legal, finance & technology expertise to the field of electronic negotiable instruments such as the electronic promissory note (eNote™). The FQX eNI™ (electronic Negotiable Instruments) platform allows businesses to control their liquidity by issuing and transferring an eNoteTM for financing and investing purposes. The legal technology of eNI is based on a globally highly respected and recognized laws and treatises. FQX is a partner of Swisscom for the use of Qualified Electronic Signatures. All eNI™ are stored on the banking-grade DLT-infrastructure of Swisscom and Swiss Post. For more information, please visit www.fqx.ch.
Switzerland
Media Contact:
Benedikt Schuppli
T: +41 79 723 28 52
FQX AG
Trust Square
Poststrasse 5-7
8001 Zürich
Switzerland
[1] September 2019, ‘2019 Trade Finance Gaps, Growth and Jobs Survey’, ADB Briefs #113, Asian Development Bank
Disclaimer
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