The DAO, which whether or not it succeeds, has raised more money than almost any other crowd-funding drive in history is using a Swiss company as its entry and anchor point to the physical world. Why did they choose Switzerland rather than, say New York in the USA or the UK? London is the home of “Tech City” where the government wants to encourage a global tech hub to grow, and New York is trying to position itself as a great place to incorporate if you are in the “Blockchain Business”. Switzerland has made no such public calls to attract business in this new sector, so why did the people who run the DAO choose Switzerland?
If you have been reading the medium posts on this account, you will know exactly why. The USA and the UK are both toxic to innovation in Bitcoin, and Switzerland is not. No one who can think is fooled by grand plans to refurbish Old Street with stolen money, and no one thinks that “BitLicense” and government regulation helps foster business.
These are the reasons why people are avoiding the USA and UK (USUK).
- USUK thinks Bitcoin is money. It isn't. It is a global distributed Super Database.
- USUK think there is a distinction between “Virtual Currencies” and “Digital Currencies”.
- USUK assert that virtual game makers “in game” coins are inherently different to Bitcoin.
- USUK wants to intervene to support the development and usage of digital currencies.
- USUK listened to lawyers who insisted that there need to be laws specific to the Blockchain and Bitcoin.
- USUK wants to outlaw encryption in their jurisdiction, Switzerland does not.
- USUK wants to protect people from fraud in a fraud free space.
- USUK sees risk when they are actually looking at opportunity.
All of the above are cherry picked bullet points from a must read post on the subject of Bitcoin and regulation, which ends with this
Anything less than a total hands off approach will result in Britain missing the first great technology breakthrough and opportunity of the 21st century, a breakthrough similar in magnitude to the invention of the printing press or the commodity home computer. This breakthrough is the emergence of a world-transforming new technology, shifting all registration and transfers of property, money, things and processes we cannot imagine, to a neutral, infallible, incorruptible, “Silent Automated Guardian of Transactions”, the ultimate impartial witness. The Blockchain.
And it is coming to pass. Even if this DAO does not work for any reason, the next one will, just as I said, in 2011 that either Bitcoin, or one of its successors is going to change everything.
After having been forced to weaken banking secrecy, the Swiss are set to rule the world via Bitcoin, where not only will all corporations be founded and completely private, but money and shares will also revert to being absolutely private. You heard it here first.
Raclette at the mercy of the chef↴