German stock exchange operator Deutsche Börse AG is teaming up with telecommunications and IT provider Swisscom AG and Swiss and Singapore-based financial technology firm Sygnum AG to establish a financial market infrastructure for digital assets.

The firms aim to create a so-called "digital asset ecosystem" that will provide issuance, custody, access to liquidity and banking services using distributed ledger technology, according to a March 11 joint statement.

The partnership includes an investment by Deutsche Börse in Custodigit AG, a joint venture by Swisscom and Sygnum, which offers a technical solution for custody of digital assets for financial services institutions. Moreover, Deutsche Börse and Sygnum will become shareholders of daura AG, which provides a platform that uses distributed ledger technologies to issue, transfer and register shares in Swiss small and medium-sized enterprises, giving non-listed companies access to the capital markets.

In addition, Sygnum is in the process of obtaining a Swiss banking and securities dealer license from Swiss regulator FINMA. The license will allow the firm to offer banking services including custody, deposits, credit and lending, capital issuance via tokenization, brokerage and asset management within the digital asset ecosystem.

The proposed digital asset ecosystem is expected to be launched over the course of 2019, subject to regulatory approval.