Switzerland: Crypto Valley does a “major reset” of its rules

Related

MicroStrategy aims to become the leading bank in Bitcoin: the vision of Michael Saylor

Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of MicroStrategy, has...

USA: the Fed requests 18 months in prison for the Bitfinex hacker

The US federal prosecutors, also known as the Fed,...

Stripe reintroduces crypto transactions after the 2018 halt: USDC payments are now available

The virtual payments company Stripe has re-introduced crypto support...

Share

Switzerland’s Crypto Valley in the canton of Zug has implemented a “major reset” of its rules in the face of the many unfortunate events that have affected the crypto sector. Among many, the fallout from the collapse of the FTX crypto-exchange.

Switzerland: the Crypto Valley reviews its rules after unfortunate industry events

In the canton of Zug, Switzerland’s quintessential Crypto Valley has reportedly decided to implement a “major reset” of its rules.

The main cause has been attributed to unfortunate events in the crypto sector that occurred in 2022.

And indeed, Dirk Klee, head of Bitcoin Suisse, reportedly listed the events that somehow negatively affected the crypto and blockchain sector. He mentioned FTX collapsing in November 2022, followed then by another industry giant Genesis having insolvency problems. 

Klee reportedly blamed these events for dampening investor sentiment in the cryptocurrency market.

Not only that, Klee also recalled the collapse of Terra/Luna, the stablecoin pegged to the US dollar that occurred in May and then the problems of two other giants such as Three Arrows Capital, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency hedge fund, and Celsius, a cryptocurrency investment platform.

Crypto Valley and Klee: “crypto failures do not stem from technological problems”

Continuing with his analysis, Klee points out that these events have exposed the weaknesses of most institutions operating in the cryptocurrency sector.

Klee says that the problem lies precisely with companies that have not yet complied with regulatory processes, or from poor management choices by centralized financial institutions.

Essentially, Klee is confident that any failure that occurred in 2022 does not stem from technological problems. 

Mathias Ruch, founder and CEO of CV VC/CV Labs, also followed suit, adding that the chain of events set the industry back two years.

Hence, Crypto Valley in general is overhauling its position. Not surprisingly, there are already more than 1,000 cryptocurrency and blockchain startups that have set up operations in Switzerland.

Not only that, these companies are mainly driven by the favorable investment climate in the area, highlighted by the favorable tax rates, hospitable political environment and favorable legal infrastructure.

These aspects are well illustrated by the region’s strong support for cryptocurrencies, even accepting tax payments in Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Bitcoin Suisse and the European Union’s regulation of Bitcoin and crypto

At the beginning of the year, Bitcoin Suisse President Luzius Meisser already took stock of the situation on crypto regulation in Europe.

According to Meisser, Europe will try to issue new laws and regulations with the aim of keeping the banking and crypto sectors as separate as possible, without wanting to restrict either one or the other.

As if to build a legal containment wall, making the crypto world elitist, without banning it in any way.

In any case, the Crypto Valley will see to it that it interacts with the regulations of Europe and the crypto sphere negatively affected by its unfortunate events last year.

Regarding Bitcoin Suisse, its founding Danish entrepreneur Niklas Nikolajsen has been featured in the list of the 300 richest Swiss thanks to Bitcoin, with an estimated wealth of 325 million francs at the end of 2021.