Fintech & blockchain

Legal framework for Fintech and blockchain companies

Switzerland is known as one of the most stable countries in the world and thus offers the ideal environment for fintech and blockchain companies, which heavily rely on legal certainty like protection of property, data protection laws, confidentiality, and a politically stable environment.

The Swiss legal and political system is a major competitive advantage for fintech companies. In fact, fintech companies benefit from low corporate and individual tax rates, a high number of double tax treaties and approachable, pragmatic authorities.

Recent legal adaptions have reduced market entry barriers for fintech companies even more and strengthen the competitiveness of the Swiss financial center:

• A business-model-neutral fintech license was introduced in 2019, which allows public deposits of up to 100 million Swiss Francs. This makes access to the Swiss market for blockchain and crypto companies much easier. Such fintech banking licenses were granted to SEBA and Sygnum, thus making them the first crypto banks in the world.
• SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) was authorized as the world’s first regulated, fully integrated digital trading, settlement, and custody infrastructure exchange for digital assets by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority – FINMA. With this license, SDX enjoys the same high standards of oversight and regulation as the traditional financial market infrastructure since 2021.
• In 2021, the federal council implemented a new DLT framework which makes Switzerland one of the first countries to offer advanced regulatory solutions and specific amendments for fintech.

These extensions of legal possibilities have attracted many foreign companies to set up their headquarters in Switzerland and especially in the Greater Zurich Area and allow emerging technologies to thrive even more.