Johann Schneider-Ammann, who was President of Switzerland until 2016, recently joined the board of Crypto Valley Venture Capital (CV VC). CV VC is a startup that invests in Bitcoin Rush in the Swiss region of Zug, which is called Crypto Valley, the name refers to the Silicon Valley of the USA.

In response to the Cointelegraph, Schneider-Ammann attributed to CV VC the creation of „its own ecosystem“, but saw blockchain as an important factor in Switzerland’s future:

„I am fascinated by the potential of this new technology and am convinced that it gives us a unique opportunity in Switzerland to become a leader in the technology of the future.

Switzerland will not change its tax law with regard to blockchain in the near future

Beyond Crypto Valley
Switzerland is known in the crypto community for its flexible regulatory system, with the local regulator FINMA among the most progressive in the world. Schneider-Ammann explained the advantages of the Swiss system to Cointelegraph:

„The Swiss legal system allows existing and abstractly formulated laws to be applied to new challenges without much effort.

Swiss regulators give green light to crypto-currency transactions for a local bank
The description really resembles the objectives recently published by the head of a major regulatory agency in the United States. As an example, Schneider-Ammann pointed to Switzerland’s relationship with initial currency offerings (ICO), a controversial issue in much of the rest of the world. He explained that by issuing guidelines in 2018, Switzerland „became one of the first authorities to formalise this process“.

Recent changes

Shneider-Ammann has seen a huge increase in cryptomoney activity in Switzerland since his term as president:

Ontology and Bitcoin Suisse partner to strengthen European ecosystems
„In the last six years, a unique ecosystem of more than 800 companies has developed around the Zug access point in Switzerland, dealing with distributed general ledger technology (DLT) or Blockchain“.

Major attackers such as Facebook chose Switzerland as the place to launch projects related to crypto currencies, in their case Libra, much to the chagrin of US regulators.