Market infrastructure: SGX, ADDX, Marketnode

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Singapore Exchange has approached digital assets through investments and joint ventures. It holds the stake in DBS Digital Exchange mentioned above. In January 2021 it formed Marketnode with Temasek as a digital market infrastructure for fixed income and funds, which tokenises bond issuances and fund units and operates the Fundnode platform for the Singapore fund industry. Through its venture arm it invested in ADDX, formerly iSTOX, a private-markets platform that received a recognised market operator licence and a capital markets services licence from MAS in February 2020 and that issues, trades and holds tokenised securities for accredited investors.¹ Other recognised market operators active in tokenised securities include SDAX and a small number of private-market platforms. Part K, Chapter VII examines their regulatory treatment.

The pattern is consistent. Switzerland built SIX Digital Exchange as a FINMA-licensed central securities depository and trading venue for tokenised securities, described in Part E, Chapter V. Singapore has instead allowed several smaller recognised market operators to grow under the Securities and Futures Act and has used Project Guardian to connect them with the banks. SDX offers finality on a single regulated ledger. The Singapore model offers interoperability across several. Each has advantages for an issuer, which Part P, Chapter V weighs for a tokenised bond or fund issuance.

Notes

SGX media release of January 2021 on the formation of Marketnode with Temasek; MAS approval of iSTOX (now ADDX) as a recognised market operator and capital markets services licensee announced on 1 February 2020 upon graduation from the regulatory sandbox. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.

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I am Of Counsel with KGP Legal LLC in Singapore, where I work with a global client base of successful entrepreneurs and their families, independent asset managers, commodity trading houses and other commercial clients. I am a German and Swiss attorney-at-law, also admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and in Hong Kong. I divide my time between Zug in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Since 2017 I have advised international clients on more than 700 crypto and digital asset projects. I also have extensive experience in cross-border litigation and arbitration in Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets in South-East Asia and Greater China.

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SingaporeIQ is edited by Dr Alexander Ressos, an international business lawyer with more than 15 years of local experience in Singapore as a permanent resident, a Singapore registered foreign lawyer and managing partner of a Singapore foreign law practice. In addition to significant experience in cross-border investments and transactions, UHNWI private client work and sanctions/export controls, Dr Ressos has extensive experience in cross-border business and in crypto and digital-asset projects in Singapore, drawn from more than 700 projects since 2017.

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