Switzerland and Liechtentein have gained in importance as a place for blockchain firms to do business – despite the plunge in the price of crytocurrencies. The stiffer winds are hampering the industry nevertheless.

The two small Alpine countries are far from being crypo-nations proper, but the entrepreneurial excitement remains palpable despite the cryptocurrency crash, showed a survey conducted by CV VC, a Zug-based crypto-investment firm and PwC consultants.

The number of firms active in the crypto industry increased substantially in the fourth quarter of 2018, the study showed. At the end of September, Switzerland and Liechtenstein had 629 companies and startups working with the blockchain. Three months later, the number had shot up by about a quarter to 750.

Drop in Value

The crash of the currencies of course left its mark on the business. At the end of the year, the 50 biggest blockchain firms in the so-called Crypto Valley had a combined value of $20 billion, down from $44 billion three months earlier. The minus of 55 percent corresponds roughly to the drop in value of cryptocurrencies.

The top-50 of Crypto Valley make up about a fifth of the global crypto-market. Investors placed some $2.9 billion with Swiss blockchain firms, showing that the market is far from dead.

Unicorn Status

The study authors didn’t evaluate how much value the industry has created in the two countries. What’s for sure is that the business is in its infancy yet: the value of $20 billion distributed over a mere 50 firms with 420 people under contract shows that there’s a lot of hope attached to their business ideas and with precious little concrete in way of output.

Ethereum, Bitmain, Dfinity and Cardano are the four companies with the highest value, the study showed. They are all worth at least $1 billion even after the onset of the more challenging environment – Crypto Valley thus has several companies with unicorn status to showcase.

The authors concluded that Switzerland remains one of the most attractive locations worldwide for blockchain startups.