The Cantonal Landscape: Vaud, Geneva, Lugano, Neuchâtel

Transcript

so good morning everyone and welcome to the canal landscape panel discussion the purpose is to discuss web fre sector adoption in Switzerland within across several contents represented here today and today we have um ban subil uh director of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce we have niiki uh business manager at the economic development department from theel uh we have Paulo B uh Deputy C and member of the C's blockchain and crypto task force city of Lugano and we have Patrick Barb managing director at inovo so welcome our fantastic

panelists and um we have just maybe 30 maybe even a bit less minute panel discussion and let's dive into the questions so Switzerland has been pioneering in um developing legal framework and um building institutional infrastructure and providing some even tax Clarity on um treatment uh certain dealy business and transactions and thanks to this it remains to be a popular location to blockchain companies how has this sector been welcomed and developed and cultivated in your cents I don't know vincon maybe we

can start with you with pleasure uh um thank you again for having me on the stage I'm the the local guest here coming from uh uh coming from Geneva and I'd like uh first and foremost to command on the the initiative of having Krypto Valley moving to Lake Geneva region and making sure that we can all be align on The Bold initiatives that you're taking second a short disclaimer being the CEO of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce which is a private institution um I am allowed to potentially be critical of the since I don't get any money from them uh so that would give me I guess a certain leeway in what I can State good news is uh that I fully endorse your statement I

think Switzerland and potentially Geneva has been Pioneer because we have a tradition of innovation this is really enshrined in our DNA and as I said the good news is that private actors and the public authorities really work hand in hand and therefore I believe that we're uh quite align what we sometimes uh would would would need is is is Boulder ambition in making sure that the footprint of of of of uh blockchain enhance crypto uh be uh uh more broadly uh broadly uh promoted uh here um that said I believe that Geneva and here act as a as a very modest ambassadors of our assets uh truly uh uh blend some key

advantages for any companies and we count a lot of them including here in the room there are about 50 companies that are active within that field of activities generating roughly 4,000 jobs so this is something which really has reached a maturity stage and I believe again being totally biased here that we uh we combine all necessary assets starting with what we call the Geneva Spirit which is a uh the fact that we have the talent pool uh that we have the necessary framework business conditions but that on top of it Geneva and its branding being often Associated to that International exposure uh and therefore I think this is a very fertile environment for initi initiative in that respect but I still humbly um

believe that there's there's more we can there's more we can do having being active in the banking field myself in moons ago and being a lawyer in in initially I believe that we've set the right framework at the national level and I think here Switzerland has really been has really been pioneer in that respect uh but I think there's a lot more that we can do and there's truly a momentum here so that's why your event uh is is very uh timely so thank you again for having me and looking forward to listening to my dear colleagues thank you we have microphone thank you so uh I am Nicholas vadis I am working for smaller startups the con of Nel it's a small small conter

in Switzerland and uh we we started in 2014 uh with the the blog chain Adventure or crypto Adventure is depending you know how in this domain and uh with a small small startup it was a broker and they trying to open a bank account and uh in this year it was in the chatel had planetary alignments it because when the company comed in the economic promotion they have a geek they understood the question on the technology we had a minister of the economy they was an epfl ICT engineer so they really UND understand the how the the how the blockchain is working and to together with a lawyer company we

started to uh to find a solution for this company because uh the law company the lawyer company say all the documentation of the company of the the startup is clear they respect all the Swiss regulations so why you can't open a bank account for this broker and we started like that and after that uh um many other company cames in the chatel uh the ecosystem is growing from 2014 14 today it's like around 70 uh company and uh one key in in our C on whole why we are there today is because uh it's a great ecosystem with people they working

together they discussing def finding solution together this is very important and uh we made a lot of of partnership with public and private uh ecosystems so we have the University of Nel on the Department of Law they started to to work about all the law about uh that kind of Technology uh the some technical institution they started to see oh we can put some some part of this technology uh in our component and uh step by step we we we we put this ecosystems to Growing or to have a nice uh International um

presence presence but not uh because we we we talking but because we are maker were many company in the chatel building some technology and the all around the world they didn't really know where is Noel in the map but they know this company uh uh is in Noel they know and for me uh to today the the great uh things we have to know especially for the banking systems is uh to learn you have to learn a lot uh about this technology you have to on board on your Bo people they know the technology you have to to to make some course for your your client relation

people because it's not so easy to understand it and uh it's a part of the the internet Revolution uh the blockchain didn't stop tomorrow we can say this blockchain is better than another one this one is a scam or that but the real think it's a part of the web Revolution and we cannot uh working without they they are not here to to stop in 10 years is not a bubble uh but you have to understand that and I think if you are there it's a good point because you start to say maybe we can we can heard about that yeah but I don't want to talk too much sorry because I

can talk a lot so Pao hello yes you here yes okay good morning everybody thanks for the invitation um let's start from the beginning uh cant of teino I think back in 2018 was the um one of the founder of the Swiss blockchain Federation so already on the Forefront of the blockchain but then for some years there was uh many companies operating in toino but not organized as a community so uh in uh 2020 the city of Lugano came up uh with its own stable coin we issued a stable coin to solve a problem on the pandemic I'm not going to tell you the story because it's very long but basically we have today uh probably the

first or let's say the most used table coin in the world as a city because I'm representing the city not the Canton and this is the first step that Lugano took to approach blockchain and crypto St from that we uh we said okay let's go deeper in the adoption of blockchain so we set up our own blockchain today we have two digital bonds uh issued on sdx we are here at the banking Symposium so this should be one of the very first uh topics to talk about and then we uh we met the our what today is our big partner which is Teter we met the heads of Teter and we decide to do something more together so in 2022 we launched Lugano's Plan B uh which is an ini itive of the city of Lugano not of the Canton

just to to make it this clear um and then the Lugano Plan B is just everything about pushing the adoption of blockchain and crypto for the city of Lugano for the city Administration but also for the population the companies and the ecosystem so today we have many companies there they were already there we are attracting many companies uh we met in the last two and a half year hundreds of companies really hundreds of companies amazing and then some moved and some are moving right now and thanks to this Lugano Plan B we took a visibility around the world um I'm doing a lot of panels around the world it's just amazing how now Lugano is known as one of the hubs in in Switzerland which let's be clear Switzerland as a hub is the most important Point uh because

Switzerland is just an amazing country for the legislation we have for the way we push blockchain in the different region Geneva Nel and Suk and Lugano but also because we have a s National Bank who doing tests well actually there are no more tests you you know National Bank issued a real wholesale Central Bank digital currency so we are really on the Forefront and we have to really run for being as a system international system as a country and then inside of the country we have different models but doesn't matter I mean we have to lead the Swiss way to do and this is something that is happening it's really happening and when we go outside and present this kind of model like Lugano I talk always about n chatel Al certainly crypto Valley uh but at the end of the

day the the people outside the community outside of Switzerland they see Switzerland as a hop yeah and so talking about the region okay but really the Switzerland system is something is real and we have to run because other are coming up Singapore Etc so we don't have to lose this time the timing and we have to keep this in our hands so basically this is what's happening in Lugano right now perfect thank you good morning um I can testify on this uh on this fact that Switzerland is known for for uh well crypto Hospitality let's say I was in New York last week and uh this is really something that's known also in the in the state so we have an attractivity and we have to

build on that as a as a country uh inovo is the agency for contono to support Innovation uh local innovators but also foreign companies wanting to set up uh in Switzerland and uh we have a focus on Technology Innovation and business model Innovation from the start and among the five uh key verticals we are focusing on is trust Technologies and Trust Technologies include DLT based Technologies crypto but also cyber security or uh digital health for example and this is within that context that we support uh crypto uh companies we have four main type of support there

is a financial support of course for Tech based companies they can get up to 100K in support from the Contour and also in some cases 100K loan if they are related to an academic institution but also we try to give them access to investors and you may have seen last year that uh the Swiss Venture Capital report reported uh actually 450 million in in konvo and 200 more are actually were invested via U public markets so there is that Financial aspect there is coaching uh we also have 60 coaches who can intervene on companies because very often the technical aspect of crypto is

mastered within the company but it remains um a startup with all challenges in organization in growing governance and there are coaches who can help free of charge uh for this and then there is the hosting part we have eight Innovation parks in konvo and the latest one is unlimit trust in loan that's been created by the Sika company and it welcomes all trust Tech related uh Ventures and this is a very interesting place to to to set up a a company and finally uh we have an activity around promoting the companies so success stories interviews but also events and this is where we are happy to support

also the crypto valy Association we did an event last year there'll be in a couple of weeks also a woman in web 3 special event because it's important also to support women and I see in this room well the proportion well there is some margin to for improvement in that in that area but probably the most important part is the trust Valley uh initiative and cluster that's between Geneva and and V and really it has different programs to Showcase innovators but also support them in the trust Tech um acceleration program that's in already in its fifth or sixth edition now and bringing also foreign

companies joining the community so this is thriving but I completely agree that this is something we have to do together and we will all win much more if we align uh our messages and this is really a Swiss challenge yeah exactly thank you so we can see that there is actually the interest of at contina level to support and to attract uh blockchain related companies they see I believe these companies seen as potential taxpayers as um places for employment and uh the growth is evident I mean we we see the the growth of this uh sector and the number of companies um and um

also Academia for example also following these Trends and providing some programs in order to support the correct professional preparation of this sector providing some blockchain related and Tech related programs at the same time Banks still um seem to be quite reluctant uh to enter this sector and there might be various reasons for this IIA mentioned few of them and it will be addressed during the Symposium today but my question is do you see these challenges like because sometimes you know although very few of them the banks they started they have started offering crypto uh when it come to business and

blockchain related companies they still facing some challenges while trying to work with traditional Banks having operating accounts or even Consignment accounts with the banks it's quite it's quite difficult and Nia also mentioned this uh this problem already how you are dealing with that first do you even see these challenges as obstacles while attracting the new business blockchain related business and how you're dealing with this problem in your content and how you think think ideally this challenge should be addressed thank you I don't know maybe ni you can you can start you you hear me yes uh they they they have two things uh the the at the federal level the the

the regulation started very good in Switzerland where the Switzerland was Pioneer in for for many other country in this domain uh unfortunately uh they didn't continue to run and for for for the bank they they have the the the two level they have to to respect the federal rules but they have the responsibility uh sometime to say stop it's enough we cannot because we we we discussing a lot with the the contal bank in the chatel and with other bank and is very very complicated for all the the question of compliance to to every six month or every month to adapt a new

rules a new new things and today it's it's imposs it's humanly impossible for for the people to manage all of them for a small bank so uh for the bank they have the responsibility sometime to say okay now we have to to to discuss on to to to stop that because they have too much uh International rules on that and they soking uh about that this is one of the real problem for the bank and uh in in Nel from we started in 2017 we Tri it to look how it's possible to work without a bank so we developed uh a process to helping company to to to

to go into the register of the Commerce without a bank account with a ledger with a an Hardware wallet just to say I have this is my my token uh I have that and we play all of that with the register of the Commerce with all of the the different partner to make that and the question we had from the start is how we can making something new but with the respecting of the law because we did not have the we did not want to have the responsibility to making something bad and after that to all the ecosystem are banned because of a bad action and uh the TRU today is uh like a one third of

the the company we have in the chatel has are not uh without bank accounts uh many small product is existing today possibility you can pay today uh with crypto on telegrams some some company in the chatel build some boats and you can send Bitcoin or Satoshi because it's but you can send you you can send Bitcoin you can send ethereum you can send many many of that crypto only just by typing in Telegram it's existing is is now is there uh we have other company with liting network for that they they started to to make for for Commerce uh to pay with with Bitcoin or with your your wallet with

your phone you already made that very greatly in uh in Lugano uh during the covid so many of this uh product is already existing so now the the bank have just to say to to go and to say okay we want to be a part of this change or you can be a Pioneer you can be a follower or you can die so your suggestion still to to integrate this technology to Banks despite of kyc okay thank you thank you maybe can I go on yeah one of my responsibilities as Lugano Plan B is to build the bridge between the traditional finance and

let's say the fintech and the blockchain finance um the two digital assets that I created in sdx which are our two bonds of 200 million it's a step to show to the banking sector that you know we're not talking about anything special it's just blockchain is a technology so I talk to many banks maybe 20 25 Banks you know Lugano is not like Geneva but we are at the third Financial app of Switzerland so we care about Banks and we want the banks to be on the Forefront because it's a big sector for us so talking to them at the beginning was really resistant today let's say half interested half neutral before they were maybe 80% against but let's be honest I've been um head of retail banking for poso sou and Switz so in toino and I

also worked in the risk management of a bank way some some years ago I think compliance is doing their job I mean to be a compliant officer it's very difficult you know you have a lot of responsibilities but come on you you are some direct I will be even more direct there are a huge margin from zero to 100 if 100 is the full risk and zero is no risk today we are going around 0.5 so we can go up and on board some companies and some individuals because it's just a technology there there are no risks behind this legislation in Switzerland allow Banks to do you much much more than what they do so you just

scaring the compliance I think you have to build the culture inside of the bank brings one person has the culture and build up the culture from inside because if you just rely to people outside you will never build this culture on the compliance side compliance is not a problem compliance is an important sector but it's slowing down everything so why don't you open accounts to startups that are just you know startups on the blockchain not even transacting on bitcoin I can understand you have transacting Bitcoin maybe okay but just you know maybe on Logistics what is the problem there are no problem cultural point for the banks sorry what would be your suggestion for the banks just to take a look I'm sure that the compliance

to build up the compliance and the knowledge on this field cost a lot of money or money sure but invest because this is the future now there are some banks coming up fintech banks with the special license I'm not going to give you the name but I think one of Representative is here in the room they will take the market and at one point when the banks realize that okay now it's fine we can go into the into the market it's too late because the image on the community would be just yeah yeah sure now you come now it's too late I'm already in the other side and sometimes I heard about companies going out of Switzerland because they found a bank in Spain or whatever that they open them the account that's ridiculous we are the banking of the world so let's do our job

let's take the responsibility let's invest money on this and build the culture from inside perfect that's my message and you can do it you can do it you can really do it very promising yeah I'm convincing I don't want I don't want the companies to move from switzland because of the bank exactly honestly I know about some very important bank that they say no no no blockchain no and then somebody come say oh I opened the account there why well because my father has a 100 million deposit there so they open the account for my company come on you can do it right you can do it okay thank you no I must I must say this is unfortunately true this is a real difficulty because already to our be able to align the stars for a company to open in in

Switzerland um you need to convince them it's the right place it's a process that takes a lot of time and currently opening the bank account is is a real difficulty uh we we succeed we are happy about that most of the time but it's becoming a very difficult process to find a bank because there is no one Bank solution and we very often approach together with the uh the new company up to 10 banks in order to find the one that will accept to open a bank account which should be a very basic thing so I confirm this is really an issue yeah thank you sorry we about running out of time so vincon do you have something to also to summarize to add to to these

points maybe a concluding remark again um echoing uh what has been uh boldly stated by by my colleagues I think at the end of the day it's a question of mindset and that's why the culture uh that we can uh um all of us as ambassador of these Technologies um blow Within These institution is key because we don't want the banking sector especially here in Geneva which is a cradled wealth management and a pillar in Commodities trading to be the bottleneck in that success story that we're building together so at the end of the day it comes back to the fact that we can walk the talk it's important to do some pedagogy and it all goes back to

I think the key word of what has been used here trust because this is what uh uh again uh is really uh the true DNA of what Switzerland can offer uh to the world so uh again some uh uh successful Milestones ahead provided we can do our job and plead uh the the right cause within our regions thank you again thank you thank you so thank you for for your thoughts and experience and thank you all of us to join