A group of researchers from top United States universities have announced the launch of a “globally scalable decentralized payments network,” according to a press release published today, Jan. 17. The development of the cryptocurrency, dubbed “Unit-e,” is being funded by Distributed Technologies Research (DTR) — a non-profit organization based in Switzerland, whose official launch was also announced today in the press release. DTR includes researchers from seven major U.S. universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, as Bloomberg reports. The organization reportedly received backing from blockchain investment fund Pantera Capital. According …

Bitcoin Association Switzerland board member Luzius Meisser says he believes the next wave of crypto innovation will focus on stablecoins and security tokens. Meisser made his remarks during an interview with Cointelegraph’s correspondent during the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Jan. 16. Meisser is a computer scientist and economist who co-founded the Bitcoin Association Switzerland in 2013, as well as an active figure in the local crypto industry, serving as a member of the board of directors for crypto-focused asset management and brokerage firm Bitcoin Suisse AG, among other ventures. In regard to the medium-term future of …

Switzerland’s major private investment bank Vontobel has launched a crypto custody solution targeting banks and asset managers, according to an official press release published on Jan. 14. Zurich-based Vontobel bank is reportedly the third largest financial custody provider in Switzerland, with 110.3 billion CHF ($112.2 billion) in assets under its actively developing Asset Management tool, according to the company’s financial report in 2017. With the launch of the new digital assets custodian solution named Digital Asset Vault, the private bank claims to be the first bank in the world to comply with standards required by both industry regulators and financial …

Switzerland-based cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift has laid off a third of its team, the exchange’s CEO Erik Voorhees announced in a tweet today, Jan. 8. According to a company blog post accompanying the Twitter announcement — entitled “Overcoming ShapeShift’s Crypto Winter and the Path Ahead” — ShapeShift has laid off 37 of its employees, reducing the size of its team by a third. In the post, Voorhees attributes the staff cuts to the “latest bear market cycle,” noting that the company’s “greatest and worst financial decision [was] to embrace substantial exposure to crypto assets.” The CEO also revealed in the post …

A new report published on Jan. 8 by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has found that seventy percent of central banks worldwide are conducting research into central bank digital currency (CBDC) issuance. However, concrete plans for implementation and motivations vary considerably across contexts. The BIS is an organization based in Switzerland made up of 60 of the world’s central banks, and has to date devoted a number of major reports to both decentralized cryptocurrencies and CBDCs. The latter are distinct from the former in that they are digital currencies issued by a central bank, whose legal tender status depends …

Bitcoin (BTC) automated teller machine (ATM) manufacturer Lamassu has moved to Switzerland due to regulatory difficulties in other countries, according to a blog post published Jan. 1. Lamassu — now called Lamassu Industries AG — has moved to the Swiss canton of Lucerne, because the firm wants “to be in a place where rules are well defined and regulators are pro-innovation.” Lamassu revealed in the post that its applications to open an account were rejected by 15 banks because it produces terminals for Bitcoin, while not taking part in trading or storing digital currencies. Additionally, the company was purportedly rejected …

Global blockchain company Blockstream has partnered with а Swiss crypto consulting firm to launch a blockchain-driven settlement network, according to a press-release Dec. 17. Inacta AG and Blockstream have reportedly recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide integration services for Liquid — a sidechain solution launched by Blockstream in October. Liquid reportedly combines key features of public and permissioned blockchains, allowing for the issuance and transfer of different crypto tokens. As per inacta AG’s release, the company will focus on “helping financial institutions to leverage the benefits of the Liquid blockchain.” The Swiss firm will provide support for …

The Swiss city of Zug, home to crypto and blockchain development hub “Crypto Valley,” has been ranked the fastest-growing tech community in Europe. Swiss startup news channel StartupTicker reported this on Dec. 6. According to the latest annual “State of European Tech” report from London-headquartered global technology investment firm Atomico, Zug came out top in a comparison of year-on-year growth of attendees to tech-related “meetup” events per European city, with a 177 percent increase as compared with last year: Comparison of YoY growth of attendees to tech-related meetup events per city. Source: startupticker.ch As Startupticker further reports, Switzerland overall had …

Switzerland’s national postal service Swiss Post and state-owned telecoms provider Swisscom are partnering on a “100 percent Swiss” blockchain infrastructure, according to a press release Dec. 6. The new infrastructure is reportedly the first private, or permissioned, blockchain to be operated jointly by two entities; its key premise is to provide a service that retains all data within Switzerland, and that can meet the security requirements of banks. The companies, both of whom already implement in-house blockchains for different purposes, have revealed their new common infrastructure will be based Hyperledger Fabric 2.0 software. The first pilot applications –– geared towards …

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has announced that it will host the company’s first conference, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph Dec. 6. Binance Blockchain Week is scheduled to be held in Singapore this January and is to include two major events –– the conference itself, along with a two-day “first-ever Binance SAFU (Secured Assets For Users) Hackathon,” according to the press release. As its name indicates, the hackathon reportedly focuses on developing blockchain-based tools for securing crypto assets. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ in the industry, underlines that the firm has chosen Singapore …

The Swiss Minister of Finance, Ueli Maurer, has rejected a possible blockchain law in a speech at blockchain conference Infrachain in Bern, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reported today, Dec. 4. Instead of a specific blockchain or crypto legal framework, Switzerland plans to tweak existing laws to allow for the new technology and its financial applications, Maurer said. The government expects to propose changes to six laws, including the civil code and bankruptcy law, next year. Maurer, who has traveled extensively with Swiss bankers, made it clear that he is aware of the competition in fintech facing Switzerland. He said at the …

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has released guidelines for their new “FinTech” license, according to a FINMA official press release released Dec. 3 The Swiss financial regulator revealed that license pursuants, which can be blockchain-related and crypto-related firms, will be able to apply for the fintech license with the state authority starting from 2019. The license, which FINMA notes has “relaxed requirements” under the country’s banking ordinance, allows fintech companies to accept public deposits of up to 100 million Swiss francs (CHF), or around $100 million. Within the terms of the license, companies are neither allowed to invest …