Tagged: switzerland

November 1, 2019 @ 2:36 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A Switzerland-based securities dealer called XBT Corp/First Global Credit has been charged and fined by the American SEC and CFTC for, “selling unregistered security-based swaps to U.S. investors using bitcoins and for failing to transact its swaps on a registered national exchange.” The company’s website has… Read More

October 20, 2019 @ 4:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Zürich-based Apiax, a Fintech firm that transforms complex regulatory requirements into digital compliance rules, has raised $6.6 million through a Series A investment round. Founded in 2017, Apiax is a Swiss Regtech firm that builds and provides tools to transpose written regulations into binary, machine-readable… Read More

October 17, 2019 @ 12:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Swiss Federal Council received an update yesterday regarding the topic of stablecoins and Facebook’s Libra specifically. According to a post on the Swiss government website, Switzerland will continue to actively monitor discussions on new digital technologies such as blockchain/DLT and the country is generally… Read More

October 11, 2019 @ 4:21 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Following in the footsteps of PayPal, which walked away from the Libra Association last Friday, eBay and Stripe have now departed the alliance. In an update, Law360 has confirmed that Mastercard and Visa have exited the Libra Association as well. “We highly respect the vision… Read More

October 11, 2019 @ 7:08 am By JD Alois  |  

Swiss crowdfunding platform Bloomio has received a CHF 800,000 capital injection from three existing shareholders according to a company release. The blockchain-based marketplace called that added capital a big step forward as the company plans for a forthcoming Series A funding round. Capital invested to… Read More

October 11, 2019 @ 2:00 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), popularly known as the “central bank of central banks,” will be engaging in two projects at the BIS’s newly-established Innovation Hub in Switzerland, one of which involves, “examin(ing) the integration of digital central bank money into a distributed ledger technology… Read More

October 10, 2019 @ 3:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has teamed up with the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in order to work on a Switzerland-based innovation hub that will initially conduct research into central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and distributed ledger technology (DLT). Financial services provider SIX is… Read More

October 4, 2019 @ 1:36 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Switzerland’s Finanz und Wirtschaft Forum announced this week it is encouraging all Swiss fintech startups to sign up for the Swiss FinTech Awards. According to the organization, the purpose of the Swiss FinTech Awards is to promote Swiss connects innovators and to continue to the… Read More

October 4, 2019 @ 2:00 am By Cali Haan  |  

Liechtenstein’s parliament has passed the Blockchain Act, “(a) new law (that) aims to strengthen the legal certainty for users and service providers…to further promote the positive development of the ‘token economy’ in Liechtenstein…(and) protect the reputation of the country,” according to lawyer Dr. Günther Dobrauz, The law was… Read More

October 3, 2019 @ 2:26 am By Cali Haan  |  

Officials at Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Stripe are reportedly hesitating now about officially signing on as members of the Libra Association, a governance consortium assembled by Facebook to advise on its proposed private, in-app currency system, Libra. The 28 current members of the Libra Association are reportedly being asked… Read More

October 2, 2019 @ 10:27 am By JD Alois  |  

It has been widely reported that the founding members of the Libra Association, Facebook’s stablecoin initiative, have scheduled a meeting to take place in Geneva, Switzerland on October 14th. As the crypto advocates gather, one has to wonder what is on the agenda. First reported… Read More

September 28, 2019 @ 1:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Switzerland-based EST Group announced on September 27 that it will invest $250 million in the next 18 months into various Indian Fintech companies. EST Group said in a release that it is very bullish about the Indian market due to great potential for new opportunities…. Read More

September 24, 2019 @ 1:06 am By Cali Haan  |  

SIX Group, a company that provides infrastructure, processing and settlement for Switzerland’s financial sector, has announced it will be delaying the launch of a proposed DLT (distributed ledger technology) platform for the settlement of “digital assets” until Q4 2020. The platform, which would allow the company… Read More

September 22, 2019 @ 8:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The  is launching a blockchain-enabled pilot project that verifies the authenticity of diplomas within seconds, instead of taking several days when using the traditional system. Harald Rotter, the university’s CIO, told CNN Money in a recent interview that the degree verification software “could be necessary… Read More

September 11, 2019 @ 12:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

Following the announcement by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has issued guidelines on the treatment of stablecoins under Swiss law, the Libra Association, a non profit based in Geneva, Switzerland, will pursue a license as a payment system with lead supervisory authority under the… Read More

September 11, 2019 @ 6:55 am By JD Alois  |  

The planned international scope of Libra requires an internationally coordinated approach. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has published guidelines on treatment of stablecoins under Swiss law. Stablecoins are virtual currencies or cryptocurrencies which attempt to hold a stable value by pegging itself to… Read More

September 11, 2019 @ 3:11 am By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently caught up with Steifan Deiss, co-founder and CEO of Blockchain Propulsion, a Switzerland-headquartered global accelerator program for blockchain startups.  Deiss, an MBA graduate from HWZ University of Applied Sciences, shared his views and insights regarding the emerging distributed ledger technology (DLT) industry and… Read More

August 29, 2019 @ 9:04 am By JD Alois  |  

Cryptix AG, a provider of services in the blockchain and DLT sector, has acquired digital asset exchange Blocktrade. Cryptix is based in Switzerland and Blocktrade is based in Lichtenstein. Details of the acquisition were not provided. Cryptix said the acquisition will not affect existing customers… Read More

August 26, 2019 @ 9:45 am By JD Alois  |  

The Swiss Financial Markets Authority (FINMA) has approved SEBA Crypto AG for a banking and securities license. SEBA joins Sygnum in becoming the first digital asset platforms to receive such a license. As with Sygnum, the license is provisional and will become finalized once SEBA… Read More

August 26, 2019 @ 9:30 am By JD Alois  |  

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has published guidance as to the application of regulatory requirements for payments on the blockchain for financial services providers under FINMA supervision. Specifically, the guidance addresses anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) rules. In a release,… Read More