Switzerland started implementing its new "blockchain law" in February 2021
The Swiss Confederation is one of the first countries in the world to convert digital assets into national law, after implementing the first phase of the so-called "Blockchain Law" a little more than one week ago on the 1st February.
Switzerland's legal framework for digital assets is now among the most advanced in the world. Company law reforms are also underway. From the beginning of August, the country will improve its financial market infrastructure.
The "Blockchain Law" was passed unopposed by the House of Representatives in summer 2020, followed by a series of comprehensive financial and corporate law reforms passed by the Senate in September. Securities trading and corporate insolvency laws were to be updated.
Switzerland is a prime example here with new laws and positive policy decisions, bur if we look nearly 2000 miles away, we can see, how the the exact opposite is happening: the Russian government wants to tighten control over crypto with new tax measures.
Russia's "no means of payment with cryptocurrency" law and it's new taxes
In July 2020 President Vladimir Putin signed a law in that but prohibits cryptocurrency as a means of payment in the Russian Federation.
And now in 2021 the authorities are preparing a bill that will include further expand on the iron fist against crypto, enforcement of new, tough tax protocols and improvement of monitoring of transactions.
According to RIA Novosti, cryptocurrency experts claimed that Moscow wants to force all traders to file annual tax returns outlining all details of their transactions with crypto currencies if they are worth more than $8,000 over the course of a tax year..
Since the Russian government wants to tighten control over crypto with its new tax measures, in Switzerland even former politician try to advertise all crypto related stuff to become the new Crypto Valley.
Block chain hub Switzerland
Johann Niklaus Schneider-Ammann has spoken out in favor of the Swiss Confederation as a hub for cryptocurrencies and new types of blockchain technology. He said the country must seize this opportunity.
Schneider Ammann is now a Swiss businessman who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2010 to 2018. He was the President of Swiss Confederation in 2016 and headed the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research during his tenure as a Federal Councillor.
The industry has not been slow to react to the "blockchain law"
Swiss asset management company Crypto Finance - which traded over $1 billion in assets in 2020 - announced that its Crypto Broker subsidiary had received a securities firm license from Swiss financial regulator FINMA. This license will allow the company to offer new products and services such as crypto currencies trading.
With today's entry into force of the DLT law, Switzerland reaffirms its position as one of the most advanced and innovative legislative and regulatory jurisdictions in the world, which now fully supports the issuance of digital securities in the market on a native block chain basis. This is an important step into the future to enable and ensure the innovation expected for security token issuance." SEBA Bank board member Hans Kuhn told in February.
Swiss Confederation as a "Crypto Valley" instead of Silicon Valley?
In a guest article in today's Neue Zürcher Zeitung Schneider Ammann told that Switzerland should continue to play a leading role in block chain technology. It has established itself as one of the world's leading block chain nations in a very short time, and has one of the most advanced, clear regulatory frameworks, Schneider-Ammann continued.
"In global competition, Switzerland will be leaps and bounds ahead of others in jurisdiction. More and more corporations also discovered the benefits of blockchain technology and, for example, mapped supply chains with it or used it for the digital storage of tangible assets," the former economics minister explained.
But the country should not rest on its laurels, Schneider-Ammann warned at the same time.
"Thirty years ago, the World Wide Web was developed at Cern near Geneva, but the triumphant advance of the Internet took place neither in Switzerland nor in Europe, but in Silicon Valley in the United States, so what is needed now is an awareness among the population and the business community that Crypto Valley is where the future is and where there is enormous potential for business."
Investments are now needed to ensure that the "Crypto Nation Switzerland" really emerges, he stressed. The politicians have set the course for this in any case.
2000 miles away on the other hand…
Moscow's plans include tax authorities using information collected from crypto exchanges, after they force trading platforms to submit data on their clients' transactions. It's a new step into monitoring of all transactions of Russian citizens and residents on overseas trading platforms. Authorities seem confident that they already have the tools at their disposal to track crypto to crypto transactions using data submitted by banks, and now feel ready to start building networks that will help them track all these transactions.
The rumors say, that crypto taxation control is likely to begin in earnest in the coming fiscal year - with citizens and companies trading in crypto expected to have to declare their income by the end of the FY2021 tax year (April 2022).
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