Dima Zaitsev, Head of International PR at ICOBox reflects on the news from Swizerland
It's been clear for some time that Switzerland is eager to become one of the world's leaders in the crypto space. To this end, in January 2017 the Crypto Valley Association (CVA) was established to support the development and wide integration of blockchain and other new technologies. Next, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) came up with specific recommendations concerning the amount of crypto funds allowed to be held by the country's banks.
And now Switzerland's government has unveiled its plans to revise existing financial laws to accommodate the needs of the blockchain sector. It has been announced that a blockchain/ICO working group has been created and tasked with studying the Swiss fintech and finance industry to find out what legal steps need to happen to facilitate its development. Based on its findings, regulators will produce a consultation draft that is expected to be presented in Q1 2019. It appears that the revisions will affect civil, bankruptcy, banking, financial market, and anti-money laundering laws that would need to be updated to provide more leeway and clarity for the new sector.
Dima Zaitsev is impressed with the forward-thinking move on the part of the Swiss government. "It is great to see that Swiss regulators are adopting such a progressive approach. The reality is that blockchain is here to stay. So a sensible thing to do is not to stand in the way of innovations but to create comprehensive rules of the game to help the new industry mature."