A very appreciated and welcomed approach by a gov – The Financial supervisor of Switzerland has taken a different path towards the much speculated ICO crowdfunding as it issued guidelines for Swiss-based startups that are planning to raise capital for support in the projects. These could be just one of many steps that the country has taken [in contrary to many other nations that are stricting-up rules] to take the lead in the Cryptocurrency community and ecosystem.
The guidelines do divide Initial Coin Offerings into three major categories which are: Utility ICOs, Payment ICOs and Asset ICOs.
Utility ICOs – In this group are included the crowdfunding at which funds or tokens are used as a way to give access to a service or product. Only if they are made with the target of serving a utility these are put down as security, otherwise they are not considered of the sort.
Payment ICOs – These are the ICO funds that are transferable and can be used as a mode of payment. Finma remarked these ICO would have to comply with the anti-money laundering regulations but they wouldn’t be considered as financial securities.
Asset ICOs – The ones that will be set on sale for investors as bonds or equities while making sure that the returns are in regular income or dividends. The Asset ICOs will undergo the definitions of security and the complete-regulation pack for financial securities will be added on.
Finma’s Chief Executive – Mark Branson [on Friday] added that the supportive yet balanced approach towards ICOs would allow:
“Legitimate innovators to navigate the regulatory landscape and so launch their projects in a way consistent with our laws protecting investors and the integrity of the financial system.”
This is a clear sign that Switzerland is trying to take the lead int he crypto-ecosystem tech-wave that has his the globe and finding the best way to utilize it, while other gov-s like South Korea, India or China have pointed out their unwillingness to adopt crypto-trading.
Economic Minister – Johann Schneider Ammann, in Jan, added that there is a full-intention taking place for Switzerland to become the cryptocurrency nation.
