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Crypto-heads including BTCC co-founder Bobby Lee gather at an inaugural digital currency conference in Switzerland next week. Co-founder Marc Bernegger tells finews.com how the event is a bridgehead to the alpine nation's traditional finance sector. 

Switzerland is riding a crypto boom currently. Any sign of this coming to an end?

Certainly there are elements of a hype at the moment, especially when you look at the prices for some cryptocurrencies and the crazy amounts of various ICOs. At the same time, a lot of new money is entering the crypto realm, so current conditions will persist for some time.

Any risks or unpleasant side effects from courting crypto business for Switzerland that aren’t being considered?

Many players are just jumping into the crypto boom blindly without truly understanding the underlying technology. This isn't a proper basis for sustainable success. Personally, I have been looking at bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies since 2012 – long before the current hype took off.

St. Moritz is a winter playground for the ultra-wealthy. A coincidence that you have chosen it for the crypto finance conference?

We (founding partners of the Crypto Finance Conference include Andrea-Franco Stoehr, Pascal Foster, Samuel Manz, Tobias Reichmuth, Daniel Gutenberg, Schoscho Rufener, Eric Sarasin and Eric Van der Kleij) very consciously chose St. Moritz: it is very close to and easy to reach the Davos conference which takes place directly after our event. This is very helpful for many participants who will attend both conferences.

«Most participants from outside Switzerland»

The Engadin valley's winter panorama provides an ideal and inspiring setting for our investors – most of whom are from outside Switzerland. The majority of our founding team also maintains close ties with St. Moritz, which also helped the decision.