Swiss pioneer regulation on DLT/Blockchain now fully into force

Swiss pioneer regulation on DLT/Blockchain now fully into force

16.08.2021

On 1 August 2021, the new Swiss legislation on Distributed Electronic Register Technology came into full force. This offers companies legal certainty and new opportunities for innovative business models. Switzerland is one of the first countries worldwide with such innovative legislation in the blockchain sector.

"Mission accomplished", the Swiss State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF) proudly tweeted at the beginning of August and continued: "We are now looking forward to new business ideas and applications".

In September 2020, Parliament passed the distributed ledger technology (DLT) blanket act, which selectively adapts ten existing federal laws. The blanket ordinance that has now been adopted summarises the necessary adjustments to ten ordinances. The legislation improves the conditions for blockchain and DLT companies in Switzerland, thereby making the country an international pioneer in modern regulation of innovative financial market technologies.

One of the key changes that has come into force on 1 August 2021 is a licence for DLT trading facilities, i.e. financial market infrastructures for DLT securities that can admit other companies and persons to trading in addition to financial intermediaries. Legal certainty will be increased in insolvency law by explicitly regulating the segregation of cryptobased assets in the event of bankruptcy.

The adopted amendments to the Swiss Code of Obligations, among others, already came into force on 1 February 2021. These enabled the introduction of uncertificated securities on a blockchain.

 

Blockchain / DLT (admin.ch)