Crypto-Linked Businesses in Switzerland Demand Banking Access
While the government of crypto-friendly Switzerland have since put in place amenable regulations to govern the region’s blockchain and digital assets ecosystem, traditional financial institutions in the country remain reluctant to service cryptocurrency-related startups. Now, pioneers of the Swiss blockchain and crypto sector say it is high time the banks joined the bandwagon, as the cryptospace has now come of age, reports Swissinfo on June 25, 2019.
Crypto Industry Now Mature
Per sources close to the matter, leaders of Switzerland’s cryptocurrency industry firmly believe that the crypto winter of 2018 which saw the price of bitcoin crash to nearly $3k, succeeded in killing off the weak and fraudulent firms only interested in getting rich quick, leaving behind the true innovators.
Against that backdrop, Daniel Haudenschild, President of the Crypto Valley Association (CVA) has opined that the space has now attained full maturity and that explains why big players such as Facebook have joined the cryptocurrency movement.
“The hype and scam-era are over. We are now seeing products that have been building up for the last two to three years, reaching maturity. We are seeing the big tech players coming out of the shadows to drop anchor.”
As reported by BTCManager earlier in May 2019, the highly controversial social networking giant, Facebook, which has been trying to make in-roads into the world of blockchain technology in recent times, registered a financial technology (fintech) firm called Libra Networks LLC, in Geneva Switzerland, to oversee its Libra stablecoin project.
Haudenschild believes that Facebook’s Project Libra has succeeded in increasing the popularity of bitcoin and altcoins and making Switzerland its home is also a good thing for the country. He added:
“Facebook has put the word cryptocurrency in a billion lips. Whatever reservations you may have about the firm, the fact that they chose Geneva is phenomenal,”
Banks Still Not Impressed
According to Swissinfo, at present, there are 750 crypto-focused businesses in Switzerland, including legal and consulting firms, yet Swiss lenders are still not interested in rendering banking services to these startups, even though the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) have been working hard to change the narrative.
“It’s almost impossible to get a bank account if you’re in crypto. This is still a huge challenge for companies,” lamented Herbert Sterchi, a Swiss-based blockchain entrepreneur.
