NAGA GROUP and Deutsche Börse form the joint venture Switex

• Switex to create the first standardized and independent market for trading virtual game items
• NAGA to manage Switex based on its technological leadership while Deutsche Börse Group to supply market expertise

Hamburg-based FinTech firm NAGA GROUP AG and Deutsche Börse Group are to launch the first global exchange for virtual gaming products. The two companies have set up the joint venture firm Switex GmbH which will launch the world’s first neutral, secure and reliable platform for the exchange and trade of in-game items. The management team of Switex will comprise the founders of the NAGA GROUP, Yasin Qureshi and Benjamin Bilski, who will serve as Managing Directors of Switex. Christoph Brück from NAGA GROUP, Victor Hugo Gomez from Deutsche Börse and Nikolay Kolev from Deloitte Digital Ventures will join the advisory board.

The in-game items market is estimated to be worth over 46 billion USD a year and has seen steady annual growth of over ten percent in the recent past. But at the moment there are few opportunities for players to legally trade game items.

Yasin Qureshi, CEO NAGA GROUP and CEO Switex, said: “We believe that there is a great demand in the gaming community to trade in game items in a fair, secure and legal environment. We will give gamers the chance to monetize the values they have earned through their skills and efforts.”

NAGA GROUP Executive Director Christoph Brück added: “We are proud to announce this cooperation and strongly believe that, with the support of Deutsche Börse, we will create a new standard for trading virtual items.”

“The entrepreneurial team at the NAGA GROUP has strong know-how and industry expertise. We look forward to helping them develop the platform and to providing our market infrastructure expertise,” said Victor Hugo Gomez, Senior Vice President, DB1 Ventures, Deutsche Börse.

“We are pleased to bring in and leverage Deloitte's network and expertise to support the venture together with Deutsche Börse,” added Nikolay Kolev, Managing Director Deloitte Digital Ventures.

Deutsche Börse AG holds a minority stake in Switex.

NAGA specializes in disruptive financial trading technologies and is the maker of SwipeStox, its first open API social trading app where users traded more than 5 billion euros within 3 months after launch.

THE NAGA GROUP AG
Yasin Sebastian Qureshi is a banking and finance professional, as well as business leader since many years. He is the youngest person in Europe ever to have obtained a banking license, and subsequently founded and ran his own investment bank successfully going public in 2007. Qureshi formulated the idea of an initiative and incubator for disruptive financial technology in 2013. Growing quickly into a delivering entity, his investment since brought together a global team of experts building innovative and mobile apps. Hence together with M&A legal expert Christoph Brück and serial internet entrepreneur Benjamin Bilski, Qureshi founded THE NAGA GROUP in August 2015. It’s mission: to develop, market and grow disruptive applications in financial technology, all of which aim to bring change and opening to an out-dated financial system. To date NAGA operates six offices in five European countries with more than 100 employees. NAGA holds its own EU Asset Management license enabling it to supply its ventures a framework of financial services ranging from brokerage licensing to legal support. The word "Naga" means "Cobra Snake" in Sanskrit and it is the name for the hottest chilli in the world.

Deutsche Börse Group
Deutsche Börse Group is one of the largest exchange organisations worldwide. It organises markets characterised by integrity, transparency and safety for investors who invest capital and for companies that raise capital – markets on which professional traders buy and sell equities, derivatives and other financial instruments according to clear rules and under strict supervision. Deutsche Börse Group, with its services and systems, ensures the functioning of these markets and a level playing field for all participants – worldwide.