Last week, Max Heinzle and Marc Hegen, 21X CEO and CTO, respectively, spent three days in the heart of the snowy Engadin valley in Switzerland attending CfC St Moritz 2024, a highly curated digital assets and blockchain conference for investors and decision-makers. The application-only event comprised an intimate circle of 250 investors from family offices, funds, and the institutional investor community, and successfully united the traditional finance sector and the crypto industry.
CfC St Moritz CEO, Nicolo Stöhr, set the tone for event with his opening address when he highlighted the importance of collaboration for innovation, while the conference program spanned the full breadth of crypto issues, from the present state of financial markets, infrastructure, and regulation to AI, the metaverse and how to ensure widespread digital asset adoption.
The 21X executives have two significant takeaways from this unique event: The update of tokenization of real-world assets and the challenge of increasing liquidity on the digital assets market.
Heinzle says:
“As you would expect from such a diverse and knowledgeable group, the topics covered were a diverse range of industry issues. However, there were two themes that drew most attention and discussion, both on- and off-stage. The first concerned tokenization and real-world assets. And the talk was no longer about what it was but about the speed of transformation from traditional assets to digital assets across all sectors – from real estate, art and employee stock options to commodities, precious metals intellectual property.”
Over the course of the three days attendees spoke passionately on how, within the domain of tokenization, the scope is boundless, though contingent upon the assurance of secure investment and custodial oversight of underlying assets or financial instruments. It was acknowledged that the accruing benefits will not be exclusive to the conventional stakeholders in financial markets. The embrace of this technology-driven economic paradigm signifies a broader tableau—a realization of the democratization of investment and an amplification of liquidity.
Hegen added:
“The second most discussed topic, concerning liquidity, was particularly interesting as many participants recognized that there is no true consensus on where this liquidity will come from and how swiftly it will come about. To bring about widespread adoption, digital assets need a regulated and more liquid market to make it easier to enter or exit a position. At 21X our response is that new digital trading platforms will play a vital and necessary role in ensuring market liquidity for digital assets. Our application in March 2023 for a license as a financial institution to launch an ESMA-licensed, blockchain-based exchange under the EU DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) regulation will be a significant step on that journey.”
Attendees came away from the event confident that the future of digital assets is assured, and they are now eager to see how swiftly the move will be from traditional to digital asset trading and settlement. 21X is clear that through our contribution of a licensed DLT exchange the trading and settlement of regulated tokenized assets will be that much sooner.