From the Middle Ages to the Holding Privilege in the Swiss Town of Zug

The term Crypto Valley has gained currency in recent years to describe the region in Switzerland that attracts international cryptocurrency and blockchain companies. Zug, both a city and a canton, is in the center of this region and is home to over 600 blockchain companies, according to the CV Maps. The origins of Switzerland’s blockchain boom are in Zug, but the borders of Crypto Valley go beyond the canton and across Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

The rise of Crypto Valley is a classic story of an ‘overnight success’ many years in the making. The transformation required innovation, courage, and tenacity.

Even after winning independence from the Habsburg kings, the citizens of Zug’s struggle with poverty continued. It was only after the First World War (1914–1918) that prosperity came to the region — this time, with the stroke of a pen.

Zug’s favorable tax structure, its legal stability, its openness to experiment, and its growing network of financial and legal service providers proved a perfect match for the emerging crypto and blockchain movement. When Bitcoin started the cryptocurrency movement in 2009, global blockchain entrepreneurs identified Switzerland, and within Switzerland, Zug, as the ideal base for operations.

The origin of the name Crypto Valley is disputed and unclear. Most likely it dates back to a meeting in February 2014 between Zug city officials and a group of visiting entrepreneurs, where one of them expressed the idea, to build an ecosystem similar to California’s Silicon Valley and call it Crypto Valley.

Crypto Valley is today home to a thriving ecosystem with roughly 600 crypto startups and foundations including some of the brightest names in the space, including ConsenSys, Shapeshift, Dfinity, Aragon, Bancor, and many more (visit CV Maps to see more).

With its crypto-friendly regulation, its style of direct democracy and decentralization, and a rich offering of services focused directly on the need of crypto and crypto firms, blockchain entrepreneurs worldwide identify with Crypto Valley on many levels. The region now is a multicultural ecosystem of incubators, conferences, blockchain competitions, venture capital investors, legal services firms, and co-working spaces. With its long track record of success in the blockchain space, Crypto Valley and its inhabitants have a bright future ahead.

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