Switzerland’s “crypto valley”, a fintech friendly region near Zurich, is seeking a 100 million Swiss franc ($102.7 million) fund from the federal government. This fund is allocated to bail out the troubled fintech companies, according to a Bloomberg April 26 report. Cantonal Finance Director, Heinz Taennler, said that the fund would consist of private investments, contributions from local governments, and federal guarantees. Fintech startups are struggling Favorable legislation and innovation has made Switzerland an attractive place for blockchain startups. Currently however, the majority of these Bitcoin and blockchain firms are not expected to survive the pandemic, as private equity investors …
The president of the Swiss Crypto Valley Association, or CVA, said that the Coronavirus pandemic had a major impact on the local crypto ecosystem. A recent report claims that the representatives of nearly 80% of crypto valley’s firms said they will most likely go bankrupt over the next six months. Crypto Valley Association president Daniel Haudenschild explained to Cointelegraph what the survey means for the Crypto Valley Startup ecosystem, he said: “The information has been built from a smaller sample size however it certainly seems to mirror the sentiment that we feel in the market.” A dire situation The report …
The municipality of Zermatt, Switzerland — home to the iconic Matterhorn — is now the second location in Switzerland where taxpayers are officially allowed to pay their taxes in Bitcoin (BTC). In order to unlock the new tax payment option, the authorities of the Zermatt have partnered with Switzerland’s major crypto financial services company Bitcoin Suisse. Bitcoin Suisse to convert Bitcoin into Swiss francs According to an announcement by Bitcoin Suisse, Zermatt started accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment for local taxes and transactions on Jan. 28, 2020. By partnering with Bitcoin Suisse, the authorities of Zermatt are now …
The past week has seen a range of crypto- and blockchain-related developments in the German-speaking world. The German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection is planning to sponsor a research project of the University of Marburg on legal issues surrounding blockchain technology, the Swiss online bank Swissquote began offering its customers the trading of a real estate portfolio-covering security token, and an Austrian research project provided proof of profitability for blockchain technology-based decentralized marketplaces. Below is the past week of crypto and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph auf Deutsch. The German Ministry of Justice donates …
The U.S., Switzerland, and Singapore were ranked as the top three “most favorable” countries for Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) in a recent report, according to a press release the researchers shared with Cointelegraph July 14. Analysts associated with the Crypto Finance Conference compiled the research based on publicly available data of the top 100 ICOs by country in terms of funds raised and ranked them by number of projects launched. The report highlights the U.S. as the most favorable country for ICOs with a total of 30 companies launched in the field. The second country is Switzerland, which is responsible …