Blockchain State of Affairs in Europe: Part Three

This is the final part of a three-part series of articles about the state of blockchain in Europe. The series covers the blockchain scene in some of the most important European nations. I would like to thank PR firm Wachsman for sharing with me the facts & figures and the commentaries present in this series. Part one may be read here and part two, here.

The Netherlands and Switzerland are the remaining two European countries whose blockchain spaces will be reviewed in this third & final part.

The Netherlands

It will not be incorrect to say that the Netherlands is on the rise on the global blockchain scene. This European nation recently hosted the Odyssey Hackathon, the biggest blockchain and AI hackathon in the world. The event was supported by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations of the Netherlands, the European Union Regional Development Fund, De Nederlandsche Bank (the Dutch Central Bank), KLM and Deloitte. With 1,500 people in attendance, it saw 100 teams compete for €200,000. The Special Envoy of Startup Delta, Prince Constantijn van Oranje-Nassau, also supported the hackathon.

The Netherlands is home to 135 blockchain startups.

Switzerland

Night view of the Swiss canton of Zug and its lake. Crypto Valley Association, an autonomous, government-backed alliance founded to leverage Switzerland’s strengths to create the world’s foremost blockchain and cryptographic ecosystem, is based in Zug.

The presence of state-of-the-art centers and knowledge hubs like Crypto Valley, which hosts 20% of the worldwide blockchain market; flexible regulatory bodies and the government’s strong encouragement have all enabled Switzerland to thrive as a leading hub for blockchain revolution. Switzerland is also the ICO capital of Europe, where firms raised $456 million in 2018, and $1.46 billion in 2017. Startups in this European nation received nearly 1.24 billion francs (almost $1.25 billion) of venture capital in 2018, about 32% more than the year before.

As for the number of DLT startups operating in Switzerland, there are 712 of them (out of 750 companies in the Crypto Valley) as of Q1 2019. Demonstrating the breadth of firms in the Swiss blockchain cluster is the startup Utopia Music, which is a new entrant into the Crypto Valley top 50 and the only media and entertainment firm to do so.

Switzerland also hosts four Unicorn startups (firms already worth billions). These startups include Dfinity, Cardano, Bitmain and Ethereum.

Crypto Valley Association president Daniel Haudenschild said, “At the heart of the blockchain movement, the Crypto Valley Association has been central to creating Switzerland’s leading position as a pioneer in cryptocurrency and blockchain. The valley is home to some of the most innovative and influential blockchain companies in the world, only made possible by the friendly regulatory environment, secure and predictable legal framework, world-class infrastructure, talent pool, sound policies and economic strength here in Switzerland.”

Armin Schmid, CEO of Swiss Crypto Tokens, part of the Bitcoin Suisse Group, stated, “At Swiss Crypto Tokens, we consider ourselves very fortunate to call Switzerland home. The Government here has always shown great encouragement of the blockchain community and this has undoubtedly been a huge part of our success in positioning Switzerland as the ‘Crypto Nation’. In addition, given how developed and influential the Swiss financial sector is — managing around 27.5% of all global cross-border assets — Switzerland is an ideal environment with a stable economy and currency for liquidity-providing instruments such as the CryptoFranc, our Swiss-Franc pegged stablecoin.”

End of Series

Image credit – Mensi  (CC BY-SA 3.0)