The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has appointed heads at the BIS Innovation Hub’s centers in Singapore and Switzerland. In a Feb. 19 announcement, the BIS revealed that Andrew McCormack — who currently serves as chief information officer at payment clearing and settlement firm Payments Canada — will now be the head of the BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Singapore. At the same time, Morten Bech, Head of Secretariat for the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) at BIS, will manage the Hub Centre in Switzerland. Fostering cross-border cooperation on fintech McCormack gained experience in policy and strategy with …

Major digital asset financial services firm BitGo is expanding its global reach by setting up two new regulated custodial entities in Europe. BitGo, a United States-based firm that claims to process over 20% of all Bitcoin (BTC) transactions, has established new custodial subsidiaries in Switzerland and Germany, the company announced Feb. 10. As the two new entities are regulated by different financial authorities, BitGo intends to allow its clients to choose the jurisdiction that is best suited to their business. As such, BitGo GmbH, the Swiss entity of BitGo, is a member of the country’s major self-regulatory organization, the Financial …

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) passed an anti-money laundering provision on Feb. 7. Citing additional risk, the threshold for unidentified crypto exchange transactions is lowered from 5,000 CHF to 1,000 CHF (approximately $1,020 USD). The provision comes following the enactment of the new Financial Services Act and Financial Institutions Act, which came into force on Jan. 1. FINMA introduced the revised ordinance in response to these acts, and will hold a consultation on follow-up regulation until April 9. One of the key changes from the new provision is the normalization of Swiss national regulations with the Financial Action …

Six major central banks will meet in April to discuss the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDC). The Japan Times reported on Feb. 6 that — according to a source familiar with the matter — the meeting will see the governors of several central banks discuss joint research on CBDCs. Furthermore, the group will share considerations on possible challenges such as cross-currency settlement and cybersecurity. The central banks of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland will reportedly meet in Washington D.C., when the participants will be there for an International Monetary Fund conference. The …

Blockchain technology is an important tool in addressing the data protection crisis, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Brittany Kaiser believes. Kaiser, a former business development director at controversial British data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, has discussed global data privacy issues in an interview with Cointelegraph on Jan. 23. Currently serving as co-founder at digital intelligence startup Own Your Data Foundation, Kaiser first came into the spotlight during the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which revealed that the firm had collected raw data from up to 87 million Facebook profiles for the Trump campaign. Speaking with Cointelegraph’s head of news Dylan Love at the World …

BCB Group, a European crypto-focused payment processor for the likes of major global crypto firms like Coinbase, has secured a license from British regulators. The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has officially approved the firm’s core subsidiary, BCB Payments, as an authorized payment institution (API), BCB Group announced on Jan. 29. The company is now officially regulated both in the U.K. and Switzerland Having secured an API license from the FCA, BCB Group now holds two regulatory approvals to offer cryptocurrency-related services in Europe. BCB Payments sister firm, BCB OTC Trading SARL, is already regulated in Switzerland as it’s …

The municipality of Zermatt, Switzerland — home to the iconic Matterhorn — is now the second location in Switzerland where taxpayers are officially allowed to pay their taxes in Bitcoin (BTC). In order to unlock the new tax payment option, the authorities of the Zermatt have partnered with Switzerland’s major crypto financial services company Bitcoin Suisse. Bitcoin Suisse to convert Bitcoin into Swiss francs According to an announcement by Bitcoin Suisse, Zermatt started accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment for local taxes and transactions on Jan. 28, 2020. By partnering with Bitcoin Suisse, the authorities of Zermatt are now …

Swiss regulators have given the go-ahead for what is purportedly the country’s first fully compliant initial public offering (IPO) on a blockchain. Swiss blockchain firm Overture will launch a compliant IPO and offer ordinary class-A shares natively on the Ethereum blockchain, using smart contracts provided by Zug-based EURO DAXX (the European Digital Assets Exchange), a Jan. 29 press release reveals. A blockchain-native approach to securities offerings Overture and its financial advisory firm, Andriotto Financial Services, said that the new venture is set apart from other security offerings in that: “The company has approved the first Swiss articles of incorporation that …

Major Swiss private banking and wealth management group Julius Baer has launched a digital assets trading and custodial service via a partnership with regulated crypto-specialist Seba. Julius Baer announced its new digital assets offering on Jan. 21, the result of its 2018 minority equity stake acquisition and later partnership with crypto startup Seba Bank AG in February 2019. Seba, which was founded in April 2018 by former UBS bankers, was granted a securities dealer and banking license by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, known as FINMA, in August 2019. According to Julius Baer’s announcement, the firm’s entry into the …

If you wanted to go deep on blockchain at the World Economic Forum, you needed to attend the conference’s side events. Perhaps the largest of these crypto-friendly events was CV Summit, an all-day conference organized by CV Labs. The Switzerland-based organization (operated by CV VC) endeavors to offer crypto entrepreneurs whatever resources they need to succeed, from fundraising help to coworking space. On Thursday, January 23, that meant offering a full agenda of speakers and panel presentations to crypto-hungry Davos attendees. The docket was loaded with speeches by high-profile crypto people, from MakerDAO’s Rune Christensen to IOHK’s Charles Hoskinson and …

Swiss cryptocurrency financial firm Amun AG launched an Exchange Traded Product (ETP) giving investors inverse exposure to Bitcoin (BTC), called 21Shares Short Bitcoin (SBTC). As Cointelegraph Japan reported earlier today, Amun launched the derivative in question on Jan. 22 on Switzerland’s leading stock exchange, Six Swiss Exchange. The description of the product on the firm’s official website is as follows: “The 21Shares Short Bitcoin ETP (Ticker: SBTC) seeks to provide a -1x return to the performance of Bitcoin for a single day. This product obtains short exposure through borrowing Bitcoin and simultaneously selling it on an execution platform.” According to …

At the Crypto Valley Summit during the World Economic Forum in Davos, ecological sustainability for the future is one of the primary talking points. Even though blockchain is on the fringes of global discussion, several experts see its usage in traceability as one of the key technologies for improving sustainability. Industry’s current applications Supply chain blockchain solutions allow tracking of the entire production chain of certain products. Their usage ensures that consumers and companies always know where a particular product or material comes from. This helps prevent counterfeiting, an issue that is hard to detect given the complexity of global …