By
Bhushan Akolkar
July 3rd, 2018
Thomson Reuters, PwC, UBS and other companies have established a new blockchain group in Switzerland to facilitate the growth of the blockchain ecosystem.
A new Swiss-based non-profit association has launched in the canton of Zug. Called Crypto Valley Association, the organization was formed to promote the development of blockchain and cryptographic related technologies.
Crypto Valley Association plans to help startups as well established enterprises to explore the distributed ledger technology by providing policy recommendations, enabling research projects, and organizing hackathons, conferences, and other events.
The initiative is led by President Oliver Bussmann, former UBS and Sap CIO; Vice President Vasily Suvorov, Luxoft’s Vice President for Technology Strategy; Treasurer Professor René Huesler, Director of the Lucerne School of Information Technology, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
Other members include PwC, UBS, ConsenSys, Thomson Reuters, Canton Zug, Lucerne University, Lykke Corp, Monetas AG, iprotus GmbH, Inacta AG, bacademy, Lakeside Business Center AG, Luxoft, Lakeside Partners AG, Leon Partners and the City of Zug.
The organization is aimed at building the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and its members will collaborate with the government of Switzerland to drive the development of digital technologies in the country and abroad.
“Blockchain and cryptographic related technologies and businesses are the wave of the future,” said Oliver Bussmann, President of Crypto Valley. “With the founding of Crypto Valley Association, we are promoting more than a region: we have founded a global association as a base for the sector’s most innovative and forward thinking companies, further strengthening Switzerland’s position as a leading centre of innovation in this sector.”
“Thomson Reuters Labs around the world collaborate with customers to solve big problems and rapidly prototype and validate solutions across technologies,” said David Craig, President Financial & Risk Business, Thomson Reuters.
“We have been particularly impressed with the calibre of individuals in the Zug ecosystem, with participants bringing novel ideas and engaging in more detailed discussions than in other forums. The formation of Crypto Valley Association has already engaged local government, startups, venture capital and larger corporations. This gives us access to a pipeline of interesting startups, talent and an opportunity to participate directly in initiatives driving the technology.”
Switzerland has proven to be the perfect environment for innovative businesses and has a great potential to become a leader of innovation in financial technology. The region boasts one of the globe’s most stable and decentralized political systems and world-leading infrastructure. Today, the country is home to hundreds of multinational enterprises, technology companies and financial organizations.
Crypto Valley Association joins the list of other blockchain groups that have been launched over the last months. A few days ago, the leading companies, such as J.P. Morgan, Chase, Intel, and Microsoft, established an alliance to develop financial solutions using Ethereum blockchain.
R3 CEV, a major blockcain group with more than 50 members, has recently claimed that its Corda platform is a distributed ledger and not a traditional blockchain. Moreover, it added that in order to apply the blockchain technology to financial markets it must be changed to address regulatory, privacy and scalability issues.
