In the center of the Alps the Swiss Nation has a long tradition in the financial sector. It's banks are well known throughout the world, unfortunately not only for good reasons. Switzerland plays a major role in the emergency of blockchain related technology. Many crypto companies like Xapo or Bitmain have or are planing to have offices in Switzerland. To be more precise, in a region called the Crypto Valley, close to Zug.
image source: Wikipedia
A positive legal framework
The reason why many crypto companies relocate to Switzerland is mainly because nobody else wants them. Switzerland offers a legal situation that is quite open to innovation in the financial sector and regulations are not too restrictive.
Switzerland is a country with extremely high living costs and high salaries. The whole economy relies on high technological businesses. To insure the sustainability of the economy, innovation and development is highly encouraged. This is why the blockchain sector is welcome. It is considered to be a technology that might create new jobs and industries especially in the time of the 4th industrial revolution.
Bitcoins available in every train station
At every train station in Switzerland there are ticket automates that are run by SBB the national railway company. It is possible to buy bitcoins on all these automates.
Pay official costs with bitcoins
In Zug it is possible to pay the state in bitcoins. However this is only valid for fees not for taxes for example. So it is more marketing than usefulness.
Not everything is as beautiful as it seems
In spite of these positive aspects, not everything is in favor of the blockchain technologies. As in most other countries, Swiss people are quite skeptical towards crypto currencies. The medias are very critical and there are many voices that want to ban everything related to this technology.
The banks don't want crypto
The biggest problem for crypto start ups and also established companies is to open traditional bank accounts. The banks want nothing to do with crypto currencies. If you tell a Swiss bank that you are working with crypto currencies, you might loose your bank account. So for these companies it is almost impossible to open accounts to pay their employees in fiat money. The reason for that is that the banks are scared of possible lawsuits related to scams or money laundring through crypto currencies.
In conclusion, we could say that Switzerland has at least realized that the blockchain technology has a real potential and that it might be worth to give start ups a good legal framework to innovate. However we are still very far from common acceptance of everything crypto related.
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