21X expands its board with the appointment of key industry players

FRANKFURT, 9 November 2023

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21X - which will soon bring to market its unique trading and settlement system for digital assets based on blockchain technology - today announced that it is strengthening its executive board with the appointment of two new board members - Alexander Höptner, as chairman of the board, and Peter Grosskopf, as board member. Their appointments will be ratified at the next 21X board meeting.

The two executives are well-respected in the fintech community having worked in multiple businesses – including start-ups, exchanges, and crypto exchanges. Both previously worked at the Stuttgart Stock Exchange and were significantly involved in setting up the Stuttgart Digital Exchange, the first regulated trading exchange for cryptocurrencies in Germany.

21X - a subsidiary of 21finance - was founded in Frankfurt in 2022 by Max Heinzle and aims to revolutionize capital markets with its digital financial infrastructure. In March 2023, 21X submitted its application for a license to operate a distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based trading and settlement system (DLT-TSS) and will be one of the first companies in the EU DLT Pilot Regime once the license is granted – possibly as early as in the first quarter of 2024.

With Höptner as chairman of the board of 21X, and Grosskopf as a 21X board member, the company is adding further knowledge and increasing its impetus as it accelerates its plans to support financial institutions by opening up a contemporary digital sales channel for trading and settlement transactions in a more future-oriented, cost-saving and secure manner. In addition to his role as a board member, Höptner will also have an active role in supporting the company, as well as representing 21X on a regular basis.

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Alexander Höptner was managing director of Börse Stuttgart GmbH for four years from 2017. He was responsible for the restructuring of the stock exchange, its expansion into Switzerland and further digitalization with the introduction of the Bison Trading App, BSDEX and Blocknox. Höptner also spent 12 years in a variety of senior positions at Deutsche Börse, gathering experience in several trading, post-trading and technology departments.  Other significant roles Höptner has undertaken include chief executive officer (CEO) of EUWAX AG – a liquidity provider of financial services at the Stuttgart stock exchange – and chairman of the supervisory board of the Börse Stuttgart Digital Exchange. He is also founder and CEO of 1st Order GmbH, a developer, provider and operator of an online platform for the trading of virtual objects, mainly in the field of computer games. Furthermore, he was CEO of 100x group, running BitMEX derivatives exchange in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Peter Grosskopf is well known in the fintech sector, with a number of senior positions and founding companies under his belt. He is co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) at Unstoppable Finance GmbH, a Berlin-based company empowering people around the world to access, interact with and unlock financial opportunities of a decentralized economy. Grosskopf was previously CTO and managing director at Börse Stuttgart Digital Exchange, the first regulated digital asset exchange in Germany. Before that, he was CTO and co-founder at SolarisBank, a credit institution offering digital banking services, with headquarters in Berlin and branches in London, Paris, Milan, Madrid and Vilnius. Since April 2022, Grosskopf has been a member of the Digital Finance Forum of the German Federal Ministry of Finance.

Commenting on these latest appointments, Max J. Heinzle, founder and CEO of 21X, said:

“I am incredibly proud and excited that we have been able to attract industry leaders in Alexander Höptner and Peter Grosskopf to the board of 21X - two names that are synonymous with innovation and success in the fintech area. As 21X gears up towards securing our DLT trading and settlement license early next year, their knowledge and understanding of disruptive technologies will help us in our efforts to gain a significant share of a market that has been forecast to be worth around $16 trillion in tokenized illiquid assets by 2030.”

About 21X

21X is a disruptive fintech, developing a game-changing blockchain-powered DLT (distributed ledger technology)-based trading and settlement system (DLT-TSS), soon regulated by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Tokenized financial instruments - such as stocks, bonds, or funds – are driving the next wave of institutional adoption towards blockchain, which will bring about profound changes to the global financial industry.

21X has submitted its application for a license to operate a European DLT exchange – under the name 21X – and is expected to be one of the first, if not the first, company authorized to operate under the EU DLT Regime once the license is granted. With the growth of digital asset trading, 21X will enable smart contract-based trading and settlement of tokenized stocks, bonds, and fund instruments.

The company will also leverage its world-leading DLT technology to build an ESMA-regulated market infrastructure, allowing customers to incorporate the 21X platform into their digital exchanges, enabling them to trade and settle tokenized securities.

21X - a subsidiary of 21finance – is headquartered in Frankfurt. The company was set up in March 2023 and presently has 20 employees across Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
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For more information, contact: 

Jeffrey Hartjes, Founder Associate
Mail: j.hartjes@21.finance
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/21x/
Web: https://www.21x.eu/