– Pioneering digital asset exchange is the first regulated financial market infrastructure globally to enable atomic trading and settlement of securities –
FRANKFURT, GERMANY – 8 September 2025: Heralding a new era for global capital markets, 21X has today announced the launch of its exchange for tokenized cash and securities. As the world’s first exchange to enable smart contract-based matching and settlement, 21X has established a new global benchmark for capital markets, under the oversight of BaFin, Bundesbank and ESMA.
With the backing of industry players at launch including Chainlink, Circle, Polygon and SBI Digital Markets, 21X has developed a more efficient and accessible financial market infrastructure powered by blockchain technology. Other early supporters of the company on its journey to global tokenized capital markets include ABN Amro, Apex Group, Future Processing, Stellar and Tradevest. For a full list of partners, visit www.21X.eu/#partners
This announcement follows the successful opening of 21X’s primary market in May, which saw the listing of the first tokenized note. Today’s secondary market launch is a logical next step in creating an operational and liquid trading platform in an open ecosystem, positioning 21X at the intersection of decentralized and traditional finance.
Investors can now use stablecoins, other forms of digital cash and fiat money to buy and sell tokenized assets on 21X following participation by the company in trials of the European Central Bank. Order matching and settlement take place within two seconds compared to traditional settlement times of days or even weeks.
Unlike traditional and other digital asset exchanges – including recently announced projects – 21X democratises access to any types of participants, including corporate clients and institutional investors, in addition to banks and financial institutions. This enables entirely new uses and business cases.
The platform ensures trading activities uphold the same standards of security, compliance, and transparency known from traditional financial systems while setting a new benchmark for trust, efficiency and interoperability in digital finance. Currently operating weekdays from 8am to 5pm CET, 21X will soon expand to 24/7 trading to meet the needs of a global industry.
Max J. Heinzle, founder and CEO of 21X, stated:
“The launch of 21X marks the ‘Spotify moment’ for capital markets where on-chain is the new online. For the very first time a security trade is settled atomically, peer-to-peer, in real time, no longer requiring central securities depositary nor clearing services. 21X compresses capital market workflows and can reduce participant costs by more than 50 percent, while enabling wallet-‑based access – whether in self-custody or via a third party. 21X is testament to what’s possible when you move fast and leverage the latest technology.”
He continued:
“Today, investors worldwide can directly access our blockchain-based exchange that finally delivers what digital securities have promised – unparalleled transaction speed, reduced risk, disintermediation, accessibility, transparency and significant cost reductions. We are breaking down the walled gardens created by other exchanges that limit participant access exclusively to regulated institutions.”
21X has secured over 30 exchange participant agreements during recent months, with more than 100 financial instruments from globally leading issuers in the pipeline. This is a result of a momentum shift in demand for tokenized securities that is well underway around the globe. Today’s EU launch is the beginning of 21X’s global growth journey to meet surging demand.
Heinzle concluded:
“To launch 21X has been a profound honour, and I want to extend my deepest gratitude to our entire team whose incredibly hard work has made this a reality. The success of this journey so far is thanks to the forward-thinking commitment to innovation from our employees, investors, partners, and key regulatory representatives—in particular, those at BaFin, Bundesbank, and ESMA.
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Note to Editors
Selected launch partner backgrounds and quotes on the opening of 21X
To achieve this success, 21X has partnered with leading global fintech and blockchain companies.
Chainlink
Chainlink is the industry-standard oracle platform bringing the capital markets onchain and powering the majority of decentralized finance (DeFi). The Chainlink stack provides the essential data, interoperability, compliance, and privacy standards needed to power advanced blockchain use cases for institutional tokenized assets, lending, payments, stablecoins, and more. Since inventing decentralized oracle networks, Chainlink has enabled tens of trillions in transaction value and now secures the vast majority of DeFi.
Many of the world’s largest financial services institutions have also adopted Chainlink’s standards and infrastructure, including Swift, Euroclear, Mastercard, Fidelity International, UBS, ANZ, and top protocols such as Aave, GMX, Lido, and many others. Chainlink leverages a novel fee model where offchain and onchain revenue from enterprise adoption is converted to LINK tokens and stored in a strategic Chainlink Reserve. Learn more at chain.link.
Fernando Vazquez, President of Banking & Capital Markets at Chainlink Labs, stated:
“The launch of 21X represents a pivotal milestone in European capital markets, where regulated onchain markets powered by Chainlink now operate at the highest standards of security, compliance, and operational efficiency. By adopting Chainlink to publish its market data directly onchain, 21X is unlocking new levels of transparency, liquidity, and collateral utility for tokenized securities within the onchain economy. This milestone highlights how Chainlink’s data standard, combined with strong regulatory frameworks, is laying the foundation for the next generation of global financial markets.”
Circle
Circle (NYSE: CRCL) is a global financial technology firm that enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of digital currencies and public blockchains for payments, commerce, and financial applications worldwide. Circle is building the world’s largest, most-widely used, stablecoin network, and issues, through its regulated affiliates, USDC and EURC stablecoins.
Sanja Kon VP, Partnerships & Business Development, EMEA, said:
“Circle is deeply committed to supporting regulated infrastructure that fosters trust and transparency in digital asset markets. Making USDC available to settle tokenized securities on 21X – Europe‘s first DLT exchange – will drive the adoption of onchain finance,and foster a more efficient and accessible capital markets.”
Polygon
Polygon is a leading Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, enabling fast and low-cost transactions for decentralized applications. Polygon has become a key infrastructure provider in Web3 and DeFi.
Sandeep Nailwal, CEO at Polygon, remarked:
“Polygon provides a powerful foundation for tokenized securities, and we are proud that 21X has chosen to build on Polygon from day one.”
SBI Digital Markets (SBI DM)
SBIDM is a subsidiary of SBI Group, Japan’s leading financial conglomerate. It focuses on digital asset capital markets and regulated token offerings, with a strong presence across Asia and Europe.
Winston Quek, CEO of SBI Digital Markets, commented:
“The launch of 21X’s regulated secondary market signals a pivotal moment for institutional digital asset trading. SBIDM’s extensive distribution network and capital markets expertise position us perfectly to help scale this innovative platform globally, bringing the benefits of tokenized securities to institutional investors across our key markets.”
Technology information
To assist in understanding the context of this press release, please see the following brief explanations of key terms:
- Blockchain: A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that records transactions across many computers, creating a secure, transparent, and immutable record. It serves as the underlying technology for digital assets, enabling secure and automated processes.
- Tokenized assets: This is the process of converting the value of real-world assets (such as bonds, funds, or real estate) into a digital token on a blockchain. This process allows for fractional ownership, increased liquidity, and simplified, automated management of these assets.
- DLT trading and settlement: This refers to using distributed ledger technology to execute and finalize financial transactions. By operating on-chain, the entire trading and settlement lifecycle is streamlined and automated, removing the need for costly and time-consuming intermediaries and reducing settlement times from days to minutes.
About 21X
21X is a Frankfurt-based financial institution at the forefront of revolutionizing capital markets through the use of blockchain technology. On 8th September 2025, 21X opened the first ever fully regulated distributed ledger technology trading and settlement system (DLT TSS) in the EU, positioning the company as a leader in the transition from traditional to tokenized asset-based capital markets. 21X enables atomic trading without counterparty or credit risk through smart contract-based issuance, trading and settlement of tokenized stocks, bonds and funds.
See the short explainer video on 21X and our blockchain-based exchange here
For more information on 21X, contact:
Richie MacTaggart, Head of PR & Marketing
Email: press@21X.eu
Mobile : +44 7828173419
Web: https://www.21x.eu/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/21x/
