Switzerland, the country known for keeping money private, is quietly creating a ‘crypto valley’ Covered: Crypto Valley Continued Growth Crypto Valley The idyllic European country has had a shadowy history of stashing away the world’s private wealth. Now, a picturesque town called Zug, south of capital Zurich, is the largest example of what has been […] The post Switzerland is Creating the Silicon Valley of Crypto appeared first on CryptosRus.

Switzerland is Creating the Silicon Valley of Crypto

Switzerland, the country known for keeping money private, is quietly creating a ‘crypto valley’

Covered:

  • Crypto Valley
  • Continued Growth

Crypto Valley

The idyllic European country has had a shadowy history of stashing away the world’s private wealth. Now, a picturesque town called Zug, south of capital Zurich, is the largest example of what has been dubbed “crypto valley”. A report called CVVC top 50 has called Switzerland “the most mature blockchain hub”. As you can see in the below tweet, the numbers are surprisingly impressive.

As Swissinfo reported recently, there were 1,128 blockchain companies in Switzerland at the end of 2021, which is 18% more than the prior year, with staffing up over 16% in the same period. The aforementioned VC report indicates the reasons for the growth as the “attractive nature of Crypto Valley’s regulatory framework and the expanse of crypto and blockchain experts.”

For a country with a small population of ~8.5 million, this growth in crypto adoption and startups is proportionally incredible. Last year, the Swiss government created the legal framework for the blockchain technology and listing of security tokens on secondary markets. Also, “more than half of the Swiss banks apparently plan to offer digital assets services over the next few years.”

To that point, the largest online bank in Switzerland, Swissquote, offer 26 different crypto assets including institutional custody servicing as well as different “crypto asset products” including “Themes Trading Certificates, ETFs, ETPs or leveraged products like Mini-Futures.” Bitcoin.com reported in December that Swissquote is also planning on launching its own crypto exchange.

crypto’s offered by swissquote

The bank was overwhelmed by demand for crypto in 2021, with an official stating: “our compliance and customer service teams were almost overrun by the crypto rush.” The bank’s net income from their crypto branch increased “by over 1,000% to 63.2 million Swiss francs in the first half of 2021.”

Continued Growth

CEO and founder of CV VC, Mathias Ruch said of crypto valley: “Crypto Valley is not just a ‘place’ but, in fact, a mindset. A mindset driven by a determination to transform the way the world interacts and transacts. It is exciting to show Crypto Valley’s stable of 14 Unicorns to the world and be part of a Swiss industry valued at over half a trillion USD.”

crypto valley growth since 2019

As mentioned above the city of Zug remains the heart of crypto valley with with 528 companies, followed by Zurich with 204. “The top clusters are Liechtenstein 85, Geneva 69, Ticino 50, Vaud 35, Neuchatel 27, Lucerne 22, Schwyz 19, St. Gallen and Aarga 12.” The growth has also come from Swiss universities engaged in blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

source: price waterhouse coopers (pwc)

Here you can see a breakdown of all the top 50 companies in crypto valley as of 2021. As an example of a major crypto company in Switzerland, Santiment, the blockchain data analytics firm, is based in the hub, Zug. This report proves that adoption is happening even in places where you may not hear or think about. The infrastructure built around protocols themselves, such as Zug’s Santiment, is a clear sign of a booming industry. That is bullish.

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