The Swiss token exchange creating a market for small company shares

A Future of Finance interview with Nicola Plain, CEO of Aktionariat.

Success in tokenising equity is unusual. Most issues of tokens are asset-backed versions of existing bonds or fund shares. So the fact that Zurich-based token platform Aktionariat has succeeded in attracting a variety of small company issuers is a considerable achievement. The goal of the firm is to help start-ups and SMEs, initially in Switzerland but eventually around the world, raise equity capital from third parties at low cost. Its strategy is to reduce dramatically the costs of issuance and post-issuance operations such as settlement and registration. Aktionariat has also formed a string of partnerships with specialist service providers and with SDX, the digital arm of the Swiss stock exchange, which helps the company secure access to the clients of the Swiss private banks. An ingenious liquidity model, based on the principal-based trading of shares in mutual funds, meant that by the end of 2022 Aktionariat was already host to 29 issuers, had as many companies again preparing to issue, and had identified dozens more on a target list that ultimately spans the entirety of the enormous Swiss private company market. Dominic Hobson, co-founder of Future of Finance, spoke to Nicola Plain, CEO of Aktionariat, about where the company came from, what it has achieved so far and what it plans to accomplish in the future.

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