Swiss fintech: the blockchain ecosystem is holding up well

Swiss Fintech

Blockchain chronicle. For more than four years, Switzerland has been hosting a number of projects. An overview of this high-potential ecosystem.

840 companies active in blockchain and cryptocurrencies, that’s the surprising figure shared by the Swiss Blockchain Federation last year. That’s more than 4,400 jobs in the Zug crypto-valley alone.

Finma’s responsiveness in 2017 and 2018 had a lot to do with it. The Swiss regulator, keen to provide a flexible and clear framework for the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of the time, as well as for blockchain projects as a whole have enabled a good number of companies to implement or prosper in Switzerland.

The use of blockchain has intensified in recent months.
The same applies to crypto-currencies.

This is the case with flagships such as Bity, the Ethereum Foundation, Bancor, Wecan Group, Seba, Metaco and Bitcoin Suisse. And this in a variety of applications and activities (participatory finance, tokenisation, asset management, payment infrastructures and banking infrastructures).

The use of blockchain has been increasing in recent months. The same is true with crypto-currencies. In contrast to 2017, leading institutional players are now active in the field. Facebook and its Diem currency project (which recently announced to leave Switzerland) is far from being the only example. In French-speaking Switzerland, major players such as Swissquote are offering crypto services to their clients.

With projects like Dfinity, a kind of cloud 3.0 built on blockchain, Switzerland is also bridging the gap to Silicon Valley. The Zug-based foundation Dfinity has a strong presence in the US and its token, Internet Computer (ICP), is valued at $14 billion on trading platforms.

Switzerland is a pioneer in this field thanks to its responsive financial market regulator and is in pole position.

On the art side, it is now difficult not to hear about the famous NFTs. Christie’s organised the first major auction of a digital work. The latter made the headlines by reaching the astronomical sum of 69 million dollars. Sotheby’s is not to be outdone. The auction house has accepted two crypto-currencies to participate in the sale of physical works.

Blockchain technologies are now increasingly present in the financial world. Switzerland is a pioneer in this field thanks to its responsive financial market regulator, and every year hosts a number of promising projects. Innovation is not a sprint, but a marathon. And understanding the regulations and business models related to blockchain is therefore essential to stay ahead of the game.

The entrepreneur and expert Vincent Pignon and the doctor of law Pascal Favrod-Coune have published a book on this subject, La Fintech en Suisse, published by Schulthess. The book is complemented by a cartography in the form of a website. The latter lists all the players in the Swiss fintech ecosystem, i.e. more than 320 companies spread throughout the Confederation.

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