Swiss Investors On What Silicon Valley Can Learn About Blockchain Adoption From 'Crypto Valley'
(forbes.com)
Zug is a municipality and small town located just outside of Zurich in Switzerland. The tiny region has earned itself a reputation for being known as “Crypto Valley,” due to its establishment of a global hub for virtual currencies. Equally as important, a number of blockchain and DLT (distributed ledger technologies) innovations have also occurred in Switzerland, ranking it as one of the top 10 European countries for starting a blockchain company.
For example, Zug recently demonstrated the successful test of a blockchain-based voting platform. Zug is also known for attracting the team behind Ethereum, the leading open-source, public, blockchain-based distributed computing platform. The Ethereum Foundation, which promotes and supports the cryptocurrency, is based in Zug and Bitcoin Suisse helped advise the group on its initial coin offering (ICO) in 2014.
However, according to Swiss entrepreneur and cryptocurrency investor, Marc Bernegger, the legal and regulatory actions in Switzerland have further fueled Zug as the world’s “crypto valley.”
Of course, one example for Zug’s success in the cryptocurrency space is due to the creation of Ethereum. As a result, some of the most relevant people, especially the tech guys—the geeks behind all the protocols and projects—have spent most of their time or at least part of their time in Zürich, located just outside of Zug. In turn, this has created a very strong ecosystem. For instance, if you look at all the numbers of funding ICOs, a small country like Switzerland is quite ahead of the curve, which is unique, Bernegger told me.
And in comparison to places like Silicon Valley - which is known for being a leader in digital innovation - Switzerland as a whole stands out as a small country, yet key player for blockchain, DLT and cryptocurrency. According to Bernegger, Silicon Valley is lagging behind towns like Zug largely due to strict regulations and legal uncertainties .
In general, Switzerland has a very liberal and direct democratic political system that is quite decentralized, Bernegger said. This is one of the reasons that the Swiss government embraces blockchain technology. They understand how a decentralized network works. And as a liberal state that is open for entrepreneurship and prosperity, we’d rather endorse new technology than protect the status quo.
Andrea-Franco Stöhr, the CEO of Switzerland's Crypto Finance Conference (CFC) and head of the legal team at Crypto Real Estate AG, agrees with Bernegger that regulations are holding Silicon Valley and other regions in America back from being leaders in the blockchain space. In particular, Stöhr points out this could be a result of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, which was primarily caused by deregulation in the financial industry.
In America, anything tied to banking has been subject to additional regulation following the financial crisis, Stöhr said. This is why I think it’s far more challenging to do anything that is somehow related to banking services. And that’s definitely one of the reasons why the whole cryptocurrency development didn’t really happen to the same extent that it could have in Silicon Valley thus far, he explained.
Considering that Silicon Valley has become home to significant innovations, the tech capital hasn’t been as open as Switzerland in terms of blockchain, cryptocurrency and DLT. The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has kept an even closer eye on cryptocurrencies following Bitcoin’s surge in December of 2017.
Currently, the SEC is declaring all ICOs as securities and therefore are subject to strict regulations.Lessons Silicon Valley Can Learn From ZugYet when all is said and done, Bernegger believes that there are 3 lessons that Silicon Valley can really learn from the Swiss in order to catch up with Zug’s blockchain advancements.
First, Bernegger notes that Switzerland already has a decentralized government system in place, so naturally Swiss entrepreneurs and investors believe in the idea behind blockchain. For instance, the blockchain-based voting system trial demonstrates how the Swiss government continues to look towards DLT for advancements.
As Zug Mayor, Dolfi Müller, stated in a press release following the blockchain-based voting system trial, “Decentralized e-voting, data sovereignty and transparency are highest for the voters because of their individual comprehensibility.
"Secondly, Bernegger credits the small, yet culturally diverse population of Switzerland - which consists of about 8 million inhabitants - for influencing new, technological ideas.
And lastly, Bernegger notes that Switzerland is a very small market, encouraging entrepreneurs and investors here to think globally from day one.“If you completely ignore the potential and underlying technology of cryptocurrency, which can disrupt the existing economic system, you’ll miss some of the biggest future trends,” Bernegger warns.
the legal and regulatory actions in Switzerland have further fueled Zug as the world’s “crypto valley.”Silicon Valley is lagging behind towns like Zug largely due to strict regulations and legal uncertaintiesIn order to help influence regions like Silicon Valley to come up with new ways for adopting blockchain, cryptocurrency and DLT, Bernegger and other Swiss investor are hosting Switzerland's next Crypto Finance Conference (CFC) in Half Moon Bay, located just outside of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The previous CFC event was held last May at the exclusive Swiss ski resort, St. Moritz, and was attended by Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of Switzerland, Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, along with high-level investors and entrepreneurs, all of whom the CFC board members had to personally approve to be invited.
It was also during this conference where the “crypto nation” statement was officially announced.This year’s conference will focus on bringing innovation to the U.S. market, as Bernegger remains optimistic and believes that cryptocurrency and blockchain developments will soon come to Silicon Valley and other tech hot spots, like Berlin and London.“
Ultimately I think it’s the regulation behind these regions that will define if new cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology can really succeed.
As long as you have a very “crypto-unfriendly” political mindset, it’s difficult as an entrepreneur to create a real big company. We hope to change this,” said Bernegger.You can follow Rachel Wolfson on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest cryptocurrency happenings.
For example, Zug recently demonstrated the successful test of a blockchain-based voting platform. Zug is also known for attracting the team behind Ethereum, the leading open-source, public, blockchain-based distributed computing platform. The Ethereum Foundation, which promotes and supports the cryptocurrency, is based in Zug and Bitcoin Suisse helped advise the group on its initial coin offering (ICO) in 2014.
However, according to Swiss entrepreneur and cryptocurrency investor, Marc Bernegger, the legal and regulatory actions in Switzerland have further fueled Zug as the world’s “crypto valley.”
Of course, one example for Zug’s success in the cryptocurrency space is due to the creation of Ethereum. As a result, some of the most relevant people, especially the tech guys—the geeks behind all the protocols and projects—have spent most of their time or at least part of their time in Zürich, located just outside of Zug. In turn, this has created a very strong ecosystem. For instance, if you look at all the numbers of funding ICOs, a small country like Switzerland is quite ahead of the curve, which is unique, Bernegger told me.
And in comparison to places like Silicon Valley - which is known for being a leader in digital innovation - Switzerland as a whole stands out as a small country, yet key player for blockchain, DLT and cryptocurrency. According to Bernegger, Silicon Valley is lagging behind towns like Zug largely due to strict regulations and legal uncertainties .
In general, Switzerland has a very liberal and direct democratic political system that is quite decentralized, Bernegger said. This is one of the reasons that the Swiss government embraces blockchain technology. They understand how a decentralized network works. And as a liberal state that is open for entrepreneurship and prosperity, we’d rather endorse new technology than protect the status quo.
Andrea-Franco Stöhr, the CEO of Switzerland's Crypto Finance Conference (CFC) and head of the legal team at Crypto Real Estate AG, agrees with Bernegger that regulations are holding Silicon Valley and other regions in America back from being leaders in the blockchain space. In particular, Stöhr points out this could be a result of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, which was primarily caused by deregulation in the financial industry.
In America, anything tied to banking has been subject to additional regulation following the financial crisis, Stöhr said. This is why I think it’s far more challenging to do anything that is somehow related to banking services. And that’s definitely one of the reasons why the whole cryptocurrency development didn’t really happen to the same extent that it could have in Silicon Valley thus far, he explained.
Considering that Silicon Valley has become home to significant innovations, the tech capital hasn’t been as open as Switzerland in terms of blockchain, cryptocurrency and DLT. The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has kept an even closer eye on cryptocurrencies following Bitcoin’s surge in December of 2017.
Currently, the SEC is declaring all ICOs as securities and therefore are subject to strict regulations.Lessons Silicon Valley Can Learn From ZugYet when all is said and done, Bernegger believes that there are 3 lessons that Silicon Valley can really learn from the Swiss in order to catch up with Zug’s blockchain advancements.
First, Bernegger notes that Switzerland already has a decentralized government system in place, so naturally Swiss entrepreneurs and investors believe in the idea behind blockchain. For instance, the blockchain-based voting system trial demonstrates how the Swiss government continues to look towards DLT for advancements.
As Zug Mayor, Dolfi Müller, stated in a press release following the blockchain-based voting system trial, “Decentralized e-voting, data sovereignty and transparency are highest for the voters because of their individual comprehensibility.
"Secondly, Bernegger credits the small, yet culturally diverse population of Switzerland - which consists of about 8 million inhabitants - for influencing new, technological ideas.
And lastly, Bernegger notes that Switzerland is a very small market, encouraging entrepreneurs and investors here to think globally from day one.“If you completely ignore the potential and underlying technology of cryptocurrency, which can disrupt the existing economic system, you’ll miss some of the biggest future trends,” Bernegger warns.
the legal and regulatory actions in Switzerland have further fueled Zug as the world’s “crypto valley.”Silicon Valley is lagging behind towns like Zug largely due to strict regulations and legal uncertaintiesIn order to help influence regions like Silicon Valley to come up with new ways for adopting blockchain, cryptocurrency and DLT, Bernegger and other Swiss investor are hosting Switzerland's next Crypto Finance Conference (CFC) in Half Moon Bay, located just outside of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The previous CFC event was held last May at the exclusive Swiss ski resort, St. Moritz, and was attended by Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of Switzerland, Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, along with high-level investors and entrepreneurs, all of whom the CFC board members had to personally approve to be invited.
It was also during this conference where the “crypto nation” statement was officially announced.This year’s conference will focus on bringing innovation to the U.S. market, as Bernegger remains optimistic and believes that cryptocurrency and blockchain developments will soon come to Silicon Valley and other tech hot spots, like Berlin and London.“
Ultimately I think it’s the regulation behind these regions that will define if new cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology can really succeed.
As long as you have a very “crypto-unfriendly” political mindset, it’s difficult as an entrepreneur to create a real big company. We hope to change this,” said Bernegger.You can follow Rachel Wolfson on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest cryptocurrency happenings.
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Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst The ideas behind this article are very common sense. It is very difficult to change this in short time. The blockchain revolution is starting slow, like all real revolutions, where the circumstances are already right like in Zug, but the impact all over the world will be global, and will happen faster than we think with the technological acceleration in place. We will be choosing sides now in this transformation.