Norwegian Block Exchange has been approved by SIX Exchange Regulation as a custodian for crypto assets underlying exchange-traded products on Switzerland's SIX Swiss Exchange. The approval is, for now, the latest step in NBX's regulatory build-out
Photo: NBX is led by Stig Aleksander Kjos-Mathisen.
For several years, NBX has articulated a clear ambition to become a bridge between crypto and classical finance. The Swiss approval marks, for now, the culmination of a regulatory build-out that has proceeded step by step — through an e-money licence in Norway, a MiCA application in the EU, a banking licence application in Latvia, stablecoin issuance on Cardano, and tokenisation of physical assets. With SIX, NBX plugs directly into Europe's leading infrastructure for exchange-listed crypto products.
SIX Swiss Exchange is Europe's leading regulated marketplace for exchange-traded products with crypto assets as the underlying instrument. Following the rule change in February 2024, custodians of these assets must operate under financial supervision — as Swiss banks, FinIA-regulated securities firms, or foreign institutions subject to equivalent oversight. The approval places NBX in a relatively small group of institutions that qualify, and opens the way for the firm to provide custody for ETP issuers requiring a prudentially supervised custodian.
NBX obtained an e-money licence from Norway's Finanstilsynet in January 2024 — as the first Norwegian crypto exchange to do so. The licence allowed the firm to operate across the European Economic Area and was the first concrete step in building an infrastructure that could be recognised across jurisdictions. It is this supervisory structure that Switzerland's SIX has now deemed sufficient.
NBX is the sole European issuer of USDM, a dollar stablecoin on the Cardano blockchain in partnership with Moneta. The firm plans equivalent products in euro and Polish zloty through Polish payment institution Fizen. In parallel, NBX has built out an offering in tokenised assets — from rubies and sapphires via the platform The Mint, to LBMA-certified gold and silver via Germany's Finest Investment. Each component points in the same direction: that digital assets should be handled within regulated financial infrastructure.
In March 2026, NBX initiated the application process for a specialised banking licence in Latvia, where the company has operated since its founding in Riga. Such a licence would provide a full euro passport through EU membership and SEPA access — something Norway's EEA status cannot fully replicate. Latvia introduced the specialised banking framework modelled on Lithuania's, with €1 million in minimum capital versus €5 million for a traditional banking licence, allowing deposits, lending, payment services and crypto-asset services within the same institution.
SIX Swiss Exchange has, since 2018, been the world's first exchange to list crypto-backed ETPs, and today lists more than 250 crypto products offering exposure to around 20 cryptocurrencies. The NBX approval marks one of the few Nordic institutions to embed itself directly in Switzerland's crypto-asset infrastructure — a segment long dominated by Swiss banks and specialist custodians.
Sources: NBX, SIX Group, Phemex News, Kaupr
