Switzerland has been famous throughout history for a lot of things. Swiss chocolates and watches are considered to be the best in the world. The veteran and stoic Swiss Guard led to development and modernization of armies across Europe. The country is situated in the heart of Europe and always been a next door neighbor to the main continental powers of France, Germany, Italy and the Austrian empire. The Swiss Bank accounts are also notorious for their connection to illegal money. For the past 50 years, Switzerland has been very important for wealth management and accounts for more than $2 trillion dollars or 27 percent of global offshore wealth. It should not surprise many that the country, which has always had a very open door policy financial and wealth management, is once again taking the center stage in the cryptocurrency trade and ICO launch. Crypto Valley in Switzerland The Swiss authorities are looking to take an important position in the cryptocurrency markets. The country has already created a global hub for virtual currencies at Zug, known as Crypto Valley. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA recently announced new regulations for ICO’s and virtual currency exchanges. Oliver Bussmann, the founder of Crypto Valley Association, said in an interview that the country is set to become the world’s leading ecosystem for crypto, Blockchain and decentralized ledger technologies. Taking a shot at some of the major banks in Europe, he said that larger lenders had chosen to sit on the sidelines for cryptocurrencies opening the doors for many smaller banks take the leading position in the currency of the future. The head of Swiss Department of Economic Affairs, Johann Schneider-Ammann also noted that the small Alpine country is quickly becoming a crypto-positive nation. It has a booming ICO market and become the center of European trade in major virtual currencies. Regulations for ICOs in Switzerland During 2017, Switzerland based ICOs raised more than $550 million in funding from investors, with a majority of them presumably from Europe. The total funding raised around the globe through ICOs, was close to $4 billion. This should give a measure of how involved the country is in new ICO startups.
On Friday, the 16th of February, FINMA announced that it recognized the potential of the blockchain technology and what it can do for the financial systems. The regulators hope that their moderate approach to handling ICP projects would help investors and entrepreneurs in improving the emerging industry. FINMA introduced new guidelines that require new startups to clearly identify the scope of their projects for the ICO. The authorities pointed out that they want to create transparency in the system that aids both the investors and entrepreneurs while reducing the chances of scams and fraudulent activity surrounding ICO. New ICOs will be reviewed by FINMA before they are allowed to raise capital in the country. The ICO creators will need to show the authorities that the purpose and function of their ICO is both legitimate and profitable for the investors. Crypto experts believe that these regulations are fairly reasonable and will allow the country to attract a lot of new businesses. Switzerland could very well become the new Crypto capital of the world.
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