ZURICH: Launched his crypto-investment startup MyBit last year, he chose this Swiss lakeside city. It was an odd fit: the no-holds-barred corner of the financial markets meeting button-down Switzerland.
Yet this nation, as closely tied to its ultrasafe Swiss franc as it is to the Alps, is entranced by volatile digital currencies. Buildings in Zug and in Zurich, Switzerland’s financial center, are blossoming into crypto-finance hubs.
Four of the 10 biggest initial coin offerings last year were in Switzerland, according to PwC, more than any other country.
The hope is the country’s banking prowess, low taxes, elite universities and the Swiss brand itself will do for Switzerland what Silicon Valley did for the U.S.
Efforts to expand the so-called Crypto Valley into what Switzerland’s economics minister has called Crypto Nation have seen some success and may offset the country’s shrinking banking sector.
