After receiving the first license as a trading and settlement venue for tokenized securities under the EU’s DLT Pilot Regime last year, 21X launched its primary market in May and has now gone live for secondary trading. The BaFin-licensed venue distinguishes itself as one of the most ambitious DLT-based trading platforms, conducting order matching directly on-chain through smart contracts rather than relying on algorithmic market makers – essentially operating a genuine on-chain order book.
This technical ambition extends to 21X’s market approach. While the other three venues licensed under the DLT Pilot Regime serve only institutions, 21X secured an exemption to service broader markets directly, eliminating the requirement for broker intermediation.
However, for its go-to-market strategy, 21X needs to prioritize. As a regulated startup, it would be tricky to potentially support millions of retail users. For consumers, the route will currently be via brokers. 21X’s Severin Kranz told Ledger Insights that the initial direct clients will be corporates, high net worth individuals and web3 treasuries, including stablecoin issuers.
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