Liechtenstein's Postal Service to Offer Crypto Exchange Services at Physical Locations

Liechtensteinische Post AG, the country’s official postal service, plans to offer cryptocurrency exchange services at their physical locations, according to an official announcement published on Feb. 14.

The postal service will allow customers to exchange their fiat to Bitcoin (BTC) in one of its offices in Vaduz, the country’s capital, starting on Feb. 15. After purchasing BTC, the customers will get a physical wallet generating public and private keys.

Later, the service will likely be extended to other post offices all over the country, the announcement notes. Moreover, the postal service wants to add support for other coins, including Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ripple (XRP).

To introduce the service, Liechtenstein’s post has partnered with Värdex Suisse AG — a Swiss-based financially regulated blockchain and payment service provider. The press releases states that crypto exchange services are nothing different from conventional money exchange businesses.

Switzerland and Liechtenstein are among the countries with the highest level of crypto adoption in the world. Liechtenstein introduced its crypto legislation in early 2018, when prime minister Adrian Hasler announced that the country will regulate blockchain business models and underlying blockchain systems.

The number of startups in the two countries has also been steadily growing despite the crypto winter and prolonged bear market. In December 2018, there were 750 companies in the two countries using distributed ledger technology, which is a 20 percent increase over the past year, consisting of 121 new companies entering the space.

Moreover, the top-50 startups located in the Swiss Crypto Valley hub account for a fifth of the global crypto market, according to crypto investment firm CV VC.