Que­sti­on by Fia­la (17.5661): Block­chain tech­no­lo­gy and vir­tu­al cur­ren­ci­es. Oppor­tu­ni­ties and threats

Sub­mit­ted text

• How does the Fede­ral Coun­cil assess the oppor­tu­ni­ties and risks for the Swiss ban­king cen­ter regar­ding vir­tu­al cur­ren­ci­es and so-cal­led block­chain technology?
• What does it mean for the stra­te­gic level of Swiss politics?
• How does he assess “posi­ti­ve chan­ge” for the finan­cial world?

State­ment of the Fede­ral Coun­cil of Decem­ber 11, 2017

Deve­lo­p­ments in block­chain tech­no­lo­gy repre­sent an important aspect of digi­ta­lizati­on, par­ti­cu­lar­ly in the finan­cial sec­tor. Cryp­to­cur­ren­ci­es (e.g. Bit­co­in) and also novel finan­cing methods (“Initi­al Coin Offe­rings”) have recent­ly recei­ved public atten­ti­on. Block­chain tech­no­lo­gy also offers new busi­ness models in the area of map­ping, veri­fi­ca­ti­on and sett­le­ment of con­tracts (“smart con­tracts”). Inno­va­ti­on (inclu­ding block­chain tech­no­lo­gy) thus has a cor­re­spon­din­gly pro­mi­nent role in the Fede­ral Council’s finan­cial mar­ket poli­cy. Initi­al steps have alre­a­dy been taken: The fin­tech rules adopted by the Fede­ral Coun­cil on July 5, 2017, as well as the fin­tech licen­se envi­sa­ged in the Fidleg/Finig packa­ge, sup­port busi­ness models in the field of cryp­to­cur­ren­ci­es. The Fede­ral Depart­ment of Finan­ce (FDF) plans to set up a working group with repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of the offices con­cer­ned and the indu­stry to car­ry out the neces­sa­ry cla­ri­fi­ca­ti­ons with regard to block­chain tech­no­lo­gy and to iden­ti­fy any need for action.