Rulematch, a Swiss Crypto Exchange for Banks, Goes Live With Spain's BBVA

Switzerland is home to a newly established cryptocurrency exchange for banks called Rulematch, which uses Nasdaq’s technology and comes out the gates with seven banks and large securities firms onboard, including the Swiss unit of Spain’s digital assets pioneer Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA).

Rulematch, which will offer bitcoin [BTC] and ether [ETH] spot trading against the dollar for a select range of institutional participants, uses crypto custody tech from Switzerland’s bank-friendly Metaco as well as Nasdaq’s pre-trade risk checks, trade matching and market surveillance features.

In the wake of events like last year's collapse of crypto exchange FTX, institutional interest in crypto trading is being catered to directly by buttoned-up approaches that closely mimic traditional finance, with an onus on segregated functionality and solid compliance with market rules.

Rulematch aims to provide firms with the institutional feel they are accustomed to, including an anonymous central-limit-order book with 30 microseconds execution times as well as integrated post-trade settlement with multilateral clearing, according to a press release. Upfront liquidity is guaranteed by designated market makers like Flow Traders, and Germany’s Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist.

“The crypto spot market is really dominated by players which do not really fulfill the very high requirements of a regulated participant,” CEO David Riegelnig said in an interview. “Primarily, the mix of functions that so-called crypto exchanges typically do, which makes them much more of a broker than actual exchange, was what triggered us to start rolling out Rulematch.”

Rulematch is backed by Netherlands-based Flow Traders, Consensys Mesh and FiveT Fintech, formerly known as Avaloq. Aside from BBVA, the platform is being used by Germany's DLT Finance. Most of the other participating institutions did not want to be named at this time, Riegelnig said.

“We have many more banks in the pipeline. but the onboarding takes quite a while,” Riegelnig said. “There's a lot of due diligence involved on both sides, and we only select from jurisdictions that are fulfilling the OECD and FATF requirements, so from places like the European Union, U.K. and Singapore.”

UPDATE (Dec. 18, 09:19 UTC): Clarifies that the relationship is with BBVA's Swiss unit in first paragraph.