Swiss political support for crypto confirmed

Johann Schneider-Ammann points the way for cryptocurrencies in Switzerland Keystone

Does Swiss Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann invest in bitcoin? If he does, he will have been very happy to see it break the $10,000 and $11,000 barriers in one day. Truth is, I don’t know if he dabbles. But he does support the growing crypto scene in Switzerland.

Schneider-Ammann will appear at the inaugural edition of the Crypto Finance ConferenceExternal link in St Moritz in January, which will match the most successful crypto financial services firms with the world’s richest investors – including at least 10 billionaires.

Timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos the following week, the three-day crypto event will provide a nice little diversion (and some juicy investment opportunities) for some of the most influential money-men on the planet. 

Schneider-Ammann will deliver a speech and host a round table conference that will allow investors to talk to the minister about crypto trading conditions in Switzerland. They even get to do a spot of skiing in between deal making. It all sounds a bit like WEF.

Venture capitalist Daniel Gutenberg, and one of the creators of Crypto Finance Conference, says the minister’s appearance “signals a welcoming political environment for actors involved in the Blockchain sphere. Eventually, this is also about creating a lot of new employment possibilities in Switzerland.”

The conference wants to establish itself as the key go-to summit for crypto in the world. By the sounds of things, it is positioning itself as the WEF of crypto – but for the moment with an exclusive invite policy. Some of the most promising latest ICOs have also been invited to pitch their wares.

Here are some of the themes that will be discussed between January 17-19:

ICO – What is it, how to invest in?
Regulatory, Tax, and Legal: A way through the jungle
Tax Environment for Crypto Investors
Crypto and Society; Use-Cases

All washed down with a nice claret.

This is not the first time Schneider-Ammann has shown his public support for the Swiss crypto industry. In August he made a personal appearance at Zug’s self-styled Crypto Valley. Zug has established itself as a global leader in attracting initial coin offerings, and its foundations are stuffed with hundreds of millions in assets raised by the crowdfunding phenomenon this year.

What price bitcoin in January? To the moon or in the suds of a burst bubble?