Swiss ‘Crypto Valley’ boasts 14 ‘unicorns’

Zug hosts most blockchain companies in Switzerland. The archive photo shows the centre of the picturesque town in central Switzerland. Keystone/Martin Ruetschi

Switzerland’s blockchain industry says it includes 14 companies with a valuation over $1 billion (CHF912 million).

Worldwide there are about 900 ‘unicorns’ – privately held start-up companies valued over $1 billion – most of them in China, the United States, India, Israel and in European countries.

The top 50 Swiss companies increased their valuation nearly fivefold to $611.8 billion at the end of last year compared with figures from 2020.

There were about 1,128 blockchain companies in Switzerland and the neighbouring principality of Liechtenstein at the end of last year (up 18%) with a staff of just over 6,000 (up 16%).

The authors of the CV VC Top 50 ReportExternal link say the latest figures show the importance of Switzerland as a “the most mature blockchain hub”.

“The attractive nature of Crypto Valley’s regulatory framework and the expanse of crypto and blockchain experts, service providers and academic institutions continue to drive flourishing activity within the region,” the report said on Tuesday.

The authors also noted that the Swiss government implemented the legal basis for distributed ledger technology last year as well as the listing of security tokens on regulated secondary markets.

More than half of the Swiss banks apparently plan to offer digital assets services over the next few years.

The industry survey is a periodical analysis of the top 50 best-performing companies in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.