While the United States can boast the famous Silicon Valley, Europe is emerging as a hub of business innovation and technology start-ups in its own right, with its very own ‘Crypto Valley’ in Switzerland.

Crypto Valley, situated in the Swiss canton of Zug, is home to an ever-growing number of blockchain companies, particularly in the area of cryptocurrency. From big players like the Ethereum Foundation to start-ups, if you are looking to establish yourself in the blockchain world, the chances are you have heard of Zug.

Europe as a whole is embracing blockchain through the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), a pan-EU network of cross-border public services using blockchain technology, but the concentration of blockchain start-ups in Zug is remarkable. Just what makes it so suitable?

Stable legislation

Despite the decentralisation of legislative decision-making in Switzerland, which itself is very much in the spirit of blockchain and its distributed ledger technology, Zug presents a very stable regulatory environment for new businesses to find their feet. Flexible but stable regulations mean new blockchain start-ups can establish themselves in less than a month.

A spirit of innovation

Switzerland has some of the best universities in the world, and world-leading experts from these institutions often work together with students and blockchain experts on exciting new projects. The government has even created research institutes tasked with supporting innovative business projects, particularly related to cryptocurrency.

A city from the future?

The future of blockchain is certainly bright, but remains unclear to many of us. Perhaps we should look to Zug for an idea of how things could be in the future as Europe begins to trust blockchain more and more. Local taxes have been payable in cryptocurrency there since 2016, and it is not unheard-of to walk around a street corner and see, in the window of an everyday business, ‘Bitcoin accepted here’.