Swiss Government Calls for Improved Blockchain Regulatory Framework
- The Swiss Federal Council has adopted a proposal, which focuses on increasing legal certainty and removing barriers for blockchain-based applications.
- The Council has proposed specific amendments to nine federal acts, which cover both civil and financial market laws.
Spiez castle with cruise ships in lake, Thun in Bern, Switzerland. Freepik
Switzerland’s executive governing body, the Federal Council, plans to remove the legal hurdles that disrupt blockchain and DLT innovation in the country, the Federal Department of Finance announced in a press release on 27 November.
According to the press release, the Federal Council adopted a proposal to improve the regulatory framework around blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).
The proposal is focused on increasing the legal certainty in the sector and removing barriers for applications based on distributed ledger technology, while reducing the risk of abuse.
In 2018, the Council published a report on the legal framework for blockchain and DLT in the financial sector, which said that crypto and blockchain will be regulated largely under existing financial laws.
After receiving 80 responses during the consultation process, the Federal Council revised and refined the proposal in a number of areas.
The legislation, which was designed as a ‘blanked framework”, now proposes specific amendments to nine federal acts, covering both civil law and financial market law.
The press release further said that the proposal will likely be examined by the Swiss Parliament for the first time in early 2020.
Switzerland is already known as a crypto- and blockchain-friendly region. While some of Europe’s regulators were ready to block projects such as Facebook’s Libra, the director of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Mark Branson, said that the country will not put extra hurdles for the development of the project.
- The White House published a fact sheet which summarized the reports from 9 federal agencies used to develop its framework and policies for digital assets.
- The reports not only called for more regulatory guidance for crypto companies, but also emphasized the importance of a potential U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency.
President-elect Joe Biden discusses the Affordable Care Act and his health care plans in Wilmington, 16 November 2020. Shutterstock
- By acquiring the securities house license, Crypto Broker AG has joined the ranks of entities such as SEBA and Sygnum Bank.
- The new license will not only allow the firm to offer its clients tokenized securities, but also hold funds in fiat currency for clients.
- Scheduled to end in February 2021, the consultation process will be conducted among cantons, parties and other groups interested in blockchain and DLT.
- The Swiss government amended several existing finance and corporate laws last month to include provisions for blockchain and DLT.