Last Updated on January 1, 2022
I recently watched an interview with the CEO of Cardano Foundation (ADA) Frederik Gregaard and took some notes on his answer as to why so many crypto companies are setting up shop in Switzerland. The full video is linked at the bottom.
- Decentralization, distribution of governance, permissionless blockchains, are all questioning the status quo, demanding regulators and enterprises to have a different perception of what enterprise grade security means – and what the legal system should do.
- Legal systems today are based around an entity or person who is held liable to certain actions according to social norms and regulatory standard in a given country.
- Switzerland has a very stable macroeconomics landscape, they are very early in adopting blockchain by bringing clarity to questions such as:
– What is blockchain?
– What is decentralization?
– What kind of token classifications exist?
– What is needed in digital identity? - They continue to change or pass laws to ensure that this clarity keep evolving.
- In turn attracting a very large crypto/blockchain ecosystem.
- Switzerland has one of the biggest capital markets in the world, specifically within asset management and reinsurance, and of course capital market is the leading use case for blockchain technology.
- Company setup is comprised of Swiss Foundation non-Profit, no shareholders, no pressure toward yield or earnings, it’s very protective – with high liability towards the board members and their actions, a regulated entity, which fits nicely with the new concept of blockchain technology and governance, and how you go on the road towards decentralization.
- Switzerland was the second jurisdiction where (Cardano) found its home. The first was on the Isle of Man – where the country was implementing a lot for regulatory clarity on blockchain, but banks did not follow and go there, so capital (to pay salaries, setup offices) was hard to maintain.
- Switzerland provided access to very large banks and infrastructure that helps keep companies operational.
- Are there other places that could be as good or better for a company like Cardano?
“Colorado and Wyoming have done amazing things for clarity on decentralization, but the U.S. – due to the latest infrastructure bill that passed – long term clarity is unknown. Asia has too much power instability – too much risk. Smaller jurisdictions do not have the breadth of reach of Switzerland.”