Forget Silicon Valley — welcome to the Crypto Country
Florian Batliner — COO Chainium
We’ve based Chainium in Liechtenstein. Why? Because it’s at the heart of the Crypto Country. Forget the sunshine of the Silicon Valley. Want to see blockchain innovation? Come to the mountains of the Crypto Country.
Liechtenstein and Switzerland are considered to be the crypto capital of the world
Some of the biggest teams are based here including:
· Ethereum — the smart contract gurus
· aeternity — the scalable blockchain platform guys
· Raiden Network — the off-chain solution team
We have chosen to locate close to these businesses and to work collaboratively with blockchain businesses in the Crypto Country. The exchange of ideas, innovation & technology is key in this new blockchain world.
Fun fact — Did you know that Liechtenstein ranks number 1 globally in terms of raised capital through ICOs?
Here are some other facts about Liechtenstein:
· In Liechtenstein, the government and regulator — basically the whole ecosystem — is very crypto-friendly.
· Even the royal family, believed to be among the richest in Europe, is considering crypto investments.
· There are great services in Liechtenstein — lawyers that know crypto, crypto advisers, trustees, and a crypto-friendly bank.
You would not find this elsewhere.
We want to be in an environment that supports businesses working with blockchain technology and crypto-currencies
Apart from the strategic view of the government towards crypto, Liechtenstein has a number of advantages in general:
· Stable social, legal, and economic order — a high degree of political continuity and stability
· Liberal economic policy and company law
· Free access to markets in Europe
· AAA country rating by Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s
· Manageable size and flexibility
The Liechtenstein government has a defined strategy towards fintech and is very supportive to companies that want to start a business. As regulation is an essential topic, the Financial Market Authority in Liechtenstein has set up an internal competence team — the “Regulatory Laboratory”. This team deals with regulation and innovation in the field of financial technologies. As the interface between regulation and the market, this team is the contact point for companies working in fintech. They can help start-ups to clarify regulatory requirements and solutions at an early phase.
At the start of 2018, the Liechtenstein government put a new banking legislation in place to make the financial market even more attractive to fintech businesses by lowering the entrance barriers. The existing bank regulation is tailored to the model of universal banks, which offer comprehensive services. However, this model is not beneficial for fintech businesses, because they often provide only part of these banking services, coupled with an individual risk profile. Fintechs can now apply for a specific banking license which complies with the European regulatory framework, thus guaranteeing access to the European Economic Area — including the 28 European member states as well as Norway and Iceland.
For Chainium, the key is to have great blockchain businesses like aeternity and Raiden nearby and an active crypto community.
To underpin these ambitions and to tighten our relationship with businesses like ours, on 1st March we’ll open our new office in the “House of Blockchain” in Vaduz, Liechtenstein — the office is operated by aeternity. The idea is to have a blockchain powerhouse with companies in this sector working together collaboratively. We strongly believe that these kind of synergies are the key for blockchain market success.
Chainium has rebranded to Own. For more information about our brand change please read this medium post.
