Swiss President Says Regulation for Blockchain Firms Should be ‘Fast and Clear’

The president of the Swiss Confederation, Ueli Maurer, has stressed that establishing regulation for the blockchain sector should be fast and clear. Maurer made his remarks at the CV Crypto Valley Summit in Zug on Wednesday, according to a report from local financial news agency FinNews on March 27.

Maurer — who is also the country’s Minister of Finance — addressed the summit just days after the country’s Federal Council launched its consultation process with the Swiss parliament over prospective amendments to federal law that would improve the legal status of blockchain firms.

With the Crypto Valley Summit reportedly attracting over 1,000 attendees, Maurer told the audience that Switzerland should take decisive and transparent action to amend existing laws in favor of the new technology, and that the Federal Council, and specifically the Federal Department of Finance (FDF), is willing to keep pushing the pace in this regard.

When it comes to blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies, Maurer proposed that Swiss authorities are “constantly looking for ways to stay two steps ahead."

Maurer is reported to have appealed to representatives from the blockchain and crypto sector to come forward and challenge the federal government with fresh ideas, saying: “our [the FDF’s] doors are open.”

The FDF’s proposed legal amendments for parliament’s consultation earlier this week included regulating crypto and blockchain firms under Swiss debt enforcement and bankruptcy law and creating a new authorization category for "DLT trading systems" within financial market infrastructure law.

As recently reported, the Swiss legislative — the Federal Assembly — approved a motion to instruct the Federal Council to adapt existing legislation for crypto regulation on March 20.

After the motion’s approval, Maurer is reported to have said that the proposed developments exceeded the scope of the planned regulation.

In December 2018, Maurer had notably suggested that in lieu of a specific blockchain or crypto legal framework, Switzerland should tweak existing laws to allow for the new technology and its financial applications.

Yesterday, March 27, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority announced that it had finished enforcement proceedings against crypto mining firm Envion AG, concluding that its initial coin offering was illegal.