Many countries have already expressed their negative opinions about cryptocurrency usage and development. Some of them have only mentioned their worries, like France, Egypt, but others have begun reforming against the use of this digital system – such as China or South Korea.

This characterization does not include Switzerland. It seems that this famous country wants to get involved in the cryptocurrency system. The Government of Switzerland has announced that it’s currently supporting an important project that will invest in the development of this system.

The Minister of Economy in Switzerland, Johann Schneider-Ammann noted that the country wants to be a “crypto-nation”. This happened at a private conference last week.

The State Secretary at the Swiss Finance Ministry replied that “We think there is huge potential — but the market is not as disciplined as we want. We want it [the ICO market] to prosper but without compromising standards or the integrity of our financial markets.”

Switzerland is not at the beginning of its involvement in the creation of digital currencies. The city Zug, near Zurich, is already known as the “Crypto Valley.” They receive numerous requests from start-ups to support them with the necessary know-how. The country has an enormous interest for rich investors.

The lawyer at Reed Smith in New York, Kari Larsen supports the country as being an opportunistic one. He said that “Just being welcoming, without also looking where consumer and market protection may be appropriate, would be short sighted”. He believes that Switzerland will face the strong competition on the global crypto market.

Switzerland has supported with funding and is the basis for 4 start-ups of the currently ten largest ICOs. These are Tezos, Bancor, DAO and Status. (source: PwC Strategy)

However, the capital of Switzerland is worried about the presence of cyber currencies that are being used for illegal activities. This fact does not allow them to act fully liberal. Swiss traders have to carry out their activities against money-laundering procedures to continue to benefit from bank support.

Do you think that Switzerland will continue to invest in cryptocurrency’s development or will they implement a strict regulation to control the system?