Referred to generally as a center for worldwide banking and money, Switzerland has gotten perhaps the most amiable country on the planet to blockchain and digital currency devotees and new businesses.
Its Zug area has been named “Crypto Valley” for the quantity of digital money organizations based there and in January 2017, the Crypto Valley Association was set up to officially address the flourishing environment.
The declaration made recently by the public authority of Zug to dispatch an e-casting a ballot pilot project with inhabitants’ IDs put away on a blockchain further showed the city’s obligation to turning into a main blockchain and digital money center.
Presently perhaps the furthest down the line player to enter the market is hoping to take the Swiss blockchain and digital money space to a higher level. Blockchain Valley Ventures (BVV), a gas pedal and adventure firm, was dispatched in May to hatch, create and put resources into blockchain-empowered organizations. The organization checks previous leader individuals from IBM, UBS and SAP, just as homegrown blockchain startup Lykke Corp. as accomplices.
BVV has decided to democratize beginning coin contributions (ICOs), a raising money strategy utilized by blockchain and digital currency new businesses that has flooded in prevalence in the previous years quite in Switzerland, and help “construct more extensions between worldwide financial backers and blockchain openings,” Heinrich Zetlmayer, author and general accomplice of BVV, told CoinJournal.
“We are building a worldwide financial backer circle to interface ICOs with worldwide financial backers in a more extensive, more organized and maintainable way.”
All the more explicitly, BVV will support organizations utilizing a “half breed model” of contributing that joins customary funding speculation and ICO. The organization said the model was intended to “streamline not just the capital-raising of BVV portfolio organizations yet to fill in as a critical device in speeding up their development and business advancement, offering huge advantages contrasted with more traditional venture components.”
In a meeting with CoinJournal, Zetlmayer talks about the condition of the blockchain area in Switzerland, ICO guideline, and offers his desires for BVV.
How would you describe the current state of the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector in Switzerland?
Heinrich Zetlmayer (H.Z.): Despite the administrative limitations and coming about intricacy encompassing ICOs, the overall ICO is market incredibly dynamic. Contrasted with different locales, Switzerland is profoundly respected as far as mechanical headway, has blockchain industry skill, and positive infrastructural benefits in speeding up ICOs and blockchain-controlled organizations.
The authors of certain blockchain projects are choosing for base themselves in to a great extent unregulated purviews, which are becoming progressively very few. This – in my view – is some unacceptable methodology when attempting to assemble organizations which can possibly turn out to be huge and trusted by numerous clients and financial backers.
Switzerland is at present giving a compelling blend as an area for worldwide associations and notable practicality in working together, permitting it to lead the route in worldwide acknowledgment of blockchain. ICOs require craftsmanship and ground breaking, too many think there are easy routes that can prompt achievement.
As time passes by, IT security around ICOs will turn into another undeniably significant new subject – in the following a year, I accept, we will see the presence of the primary controlled trades giving the ICO market a subsequent lift.
In your opinion, has Switzerland become a leader in the ICO business?
H.Z.: Switzerland can certainly be considered to be one of the leaders in the sector. This is due to the concentration of blockchain companies headquartered here, including fintech companies which are actively engaged with cryptocurrencies and crypto markets, and the ICO infrastructure available.
What are the current challenges that startups looking to conduct ICOs in Switzerland have to face?
H.Z.: Nowadays, any serious ICO needs to raise money globally and has to maneuver through the myriad of advisors, which can prove time-consuming and difficult, especially for smaller, newer businesses. In fact, the main challenge is establishing banking relationships. The rest of the difficulties Swiss ICOs face are not related to their location in Switzerland, but to ensuring that the ICO is legally compliant on a global level, as well as to finding regulatory compliant exchanges.
What can be done to facilitate the development of the space?
H.Z.: Regulation should be reduced for ICO investments with smaller contributions, such as US$5,000, to make ICOs more easily accessible for retail investors globally. Additionally, we need to facilitate better access to global capital for ICOs.
Do you see BVV as a new industry participant solving any of these issues?
H.Z.: Absolutely. We are building a global investor circle to connect ICOs with global investors in a broader, more structured and sustainable way. In addition, through our investment products, we want to build more bridges between global investors and blockchain opportunities.
Is BVV incubating any startup at the moment?
H.Z.: Yes, BVV has engaged with Teleport Global AG, a company which provides an innovative, decentralized content delivery network. We’re actively working on exploring additional opportunities, due for announcement in the coming months.
Has BVV made any investment yet?
H.Z.: BVV are currently pursuing several opportunities that are in the final stages of negotiation and will be announced soon.
Regarding BVV’s startup portfolio, do you have any short-, mid-term objective? How many startups are you looking to invest in by the end of the year?
H.Z.: We hope to invest in many startups, be it at founding stage or after founding, but will remain selective to ensure overall quality. We want to conclude the year with a portfolio of up to 20 selected companies, which we’re moving towards very rapidly.
Is there any sector BVV is particularly interested in?
H.Z.: We are primarily focused on blockchain infrastructure projects and on blockchain-powered startups that promise industrial scale usage often combined with an existing business model that is transformed by blockchain technology. As blockchain technology is so innovative generally, there are many promising sectors which could potentially interest us.