The Swiss Think Tank Urges The Country To Morph From “Crypto Valley” Into A Fully-Fledged “DLT nation”

The crypto boom and its continuous growth have not failed to allure everyone from all parts of the world. Recently, one of the Swiss think tank called- ‘Avenir Suisse’ has published a report called- Blockchain after the Hype.’ This report is authored by the senior researcher (Jennifer Anthamatten) and the researcher (Pascal Lago) of the think tank. Avenir Suisse has tried to make Swiss thinking around cryptocurrency more liberal and has tried to walk it through the benefits of adopting DLT and beginning to create crypto within the country.

Why should the country strive to be a “fully-fledged DLT nation”?

The two authors have tried to point out how the digitization and DLT are offering so many opportunities for the financial industry in the country. As per the report, there are three main sectors where the country can benefit a lot-

1. A direct advantage of the expansion of the “relatively small capital market” has been pointed at given the country manages to ace the token security trading. As there will be more and more cost-saving taking place, one can hope for cashing in more and more local and cross-border issuers, the report pointed.
2. Given the Digital Ledger Technology is a mathematically transparent platform, thing such as documentation, administration of the sensitive information, the involvement of the third party, hiring for the new staff for the management purposes, and so on, can be largely economized. Therefore, “DLT can be profitably harnessed in trade finance.”
3. Given the cross border nature of the digital ledger technology, it offers a great chance for the “wealth managers” to explore greater business related possibilities in all the directions. Be it managing the clients, their sensitive information, documentation, safekeeping of the private keys, and so on, can be easily regulated.

Further, the report has urged the country to transform from “Crypto Valley” to become a fully-fledged “DLT nation.” The chance for the country to be the pioneer in the DLT sector has passed, but now it can grow even stronger as per the report.

How will the country morph from “Crypto Valley to a “fully-fledged DLT nation”?

The report has gone to great lengths to guide how the country can morph to become a fully-fledged “DLT nation.” It has pointed at the specific directions in which the financial industry should thrust themselves in. These steps comprise of-

1. The first step revolves around the need for strong “technology-neutral regulation.” The think tank suggests striking a balance between regulation and “legal certainty.” This can be done by tweaking those unexplored areas which are not yet in sync with the digital ledger technology. A sense of urgency has been expressed on the quick changes to be applied. It further added-

Wherever possible and reasonable, Finma should also be exploiting the potential of reg tech more fully by making machine-readable regulation available.

2. Next, there was an emphasis on the upgradation and modernization of the interface between the public sector and the private sector. For instance, the report quoted- “e-ID and the registry of deeds” must be modernized. This can only become possible with the mutual cooperation between the National Bank and other important industry leaders.

3. The report further pointed at opening up the international relations much wider than what it is at the moment. Given the digital ledger technology is a cross border platform, it naturally involves a stiff competition on an international scale. This, therefore, urges the country to embrace international talents rather than simply sticking to domestic resources. The report suggested-

The employment market has to be kept open and attractive to people from abroad. This particularly applies to people from other countries graduating from Swiss universities, for which the quota is much too small at present.