19 June 2024
Culture Club: Can tokenization unlock art’s hidden wealth?
Imagine a world where art is not confined to prestigious galleries or exclusive auctions but accessible to anyone, anywhere.
That has now been made possible with the era of tokenization, a groundbreaking concept that is the key to unlocking art’s hidden wealth.
Back in 2021, Sygnum, a digital asset bank, and Artemundi, an art investment pioneer, partnered to tokenize Picasso’s Fillette au béret painting.
This marks the first time the ownership rights in a Picasso, or any artwork, are being broadcast onto the public blockchain by a regulated bank, enabling investors to purchase and trade “shares” in the artwork.
But how far can tokenization or blockchain technology revolutionize the art industry?
Gerald Goh, Co-founder and CEO Singapore, Sygnum explains.
Presented by: Hongbin Jeong and Roshan Gidwani
Feature produced and edited by: Nadiah Koh
Do you have a story to tell on The Evening Runway show? Contact nadkoh@sph.com.sg

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Listen To His Previous Podcasts:

1 April 2024
Mind Your Business: Renewing my purpose in life - to democratise wealth with digital assets: Sygnum CEO
In a landscape dominated by traditional finance, one individual stands out for his commitment to reshaping the status quo.
From his beginnings in investment consulting to his pivotal role in the digital asset industry, his journey is marked by a relentless pursuit of a singular goal: democratising wealth-building opportunities for all.
Through rejection and adversity, he remains steadfast in his belief that financial empowerment should be accessible to everyone, regardless of background or circumstance.
Gerald Goh, Co-founder and CEO, Sygnum Singapore shares more about his entrepreneurial journey and the transformative impact of his life's purpose.
Presented by Audrey Siek
This podcast is produced and edited by Anthea Ng (nganthea@sph.com.sg)
She produces Mind Your Business, Biz-How-To and Breakfast Special segments on the Breakfast Show.
Do contact her for topics: C-Suite, SME, Startups, Health-tech, Sustainability, Property, Intergenerational Family Business, Industry Outlook, Fintech and trending businesses in town.

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22 August 2023
Under the Radar: Sygnum Singapore’s CEO on banking licence in Switzerland; Capital Markets Services licence from MAS, in-principle approval for Major Payments Institution licence; Digital token brokerage services; Strong demand for crypto transactions by fund houses, family offices amid US banking crisis; Tokenisation of Picasso’s painting; Billion-dollar valuation
It’s all about digital assets today. Founded on Swiss and Singaporean heritage in 2017, our guest is Singtel-backed startup Sygnum, which touts itself as “the world’s first regulated digital asset bank”.
The company was awarded with its Swiss banking and securities dealer license in 2019 by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority or FINMA.
While the firm is not licensed as a bank here in Singapore, its Singapore arm Sygnum Singapore operates under a Capital Markets Services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to help accredited and institutional investors tap the digital asset markets.
More recently, Sygnum Singapore also received in-principle approval of the Major Payments Institution license from the MAS. That’s a move said to position the firm to provide regulated crypto brokerage service in future.
Quite a bit of jargon to get through, but at the heart of our conversation is this question – what exactly are the products and services offered by the firm and how do they differ by geography?
Meanwhile, the firm has on a group level participated on projects to tokenise paintings by artists such as Picasso – but how important is this as a business vertical for the firm?
On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Gerald Goh, Co-founder and CEO, Sygnum Singapore.

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