Blockstream announced on Monday that Oz Ozturk has joined as managing director EMEA and global chief solutions officer. From Lugano, he leads the enterprise business and the global consulting unit of the bitcoin infrastructure provider.

According to the announcement, Ozturk brings more than 30 years of experience in technology strategy and corporate transformation, most recently in senior roles at PwC. He knows Switzerland well, having previously lived and worked in the country's French-speaking region.

A technical base in Ticino

In October, Blockstream CEO Adam Back used the Plan ₿ Forum to announce the expansion in Lugano and the launch of Blockstream Consulting Services (finews.com reported).

Lugano is the European base partly because of its proximity to engineers from Milan and Turin, Ozturk tells finews. Most local clients, however, are in German-speaking Switzerland and the French-speaking region. Over time, he expects Blockstream to grow significantly outside Lugano.

A deliberate choice for Switzerland

Why Switzerland in the first place? The US market alone is highly fragmented, Ozturk says, and Europe works differently again. The deciding factors were the rule of law, regulation, the depth of the talent pool and how open clients are.

In some other countries, the political landscape shifts every two years, which wipes out the value of investments. Switzerland is the gold standard on the continent: what works here can be rolled out elsewhere in Europe.

Bitcoin adoption running high

Ozturk rates bitcoin adoption among Swiss private banks as extremely high. Some have built their own solutions and others have adopted third-party offerings, while the rest are still watching from the sidelines.

Holdings are mostly in bitcoin, as banks place less trust in other cryptocurrencies. Even so, the potential for advisory services is substantial.

Even in the advanced Swiss market, only about one in five banks has the relevant capabilities. And even the most sophisticated institutions work with Excel spreadsheets and duplicate, non-integrated books.

Key ceremonies and weekend trading

The consulting unit grew out of real demand rather than a strategic epiphany, Ozturk says. A provider that only sells a product such as a custody solution is relying on the bank to implement it successfully.

That, however, requires knowledge of the security requirements, of how cantonal and private banks run their operations, and of their existing systems.

Banks' questions start with security. Wealthy clients want to know where their bitcoin is held and how the so-called key ceremony works, meaning the generation and safekeeping of the cryptographic keys.

After that, the focus turns to creating value: what margin calls look like on bitcoin-backed loans, how to integrate bitcoin into a core banking system that only runs during office hours when clients want to trade on weekends, or how to win over compliance on a tokenized money market fund.

Recruiting with a Swiss focus

For sales and advisory roles in Switzerland, Blockstream is mainly hiring Swiss nationals, Ozturk stresses. Nobody will be flown in from the California headquarters, as the Swiss market is heavily driven by relationships.

According to the announcement, Blockstream already has a presence in Geneva, Zurich and Zug in addition to Lugano. In what has been a difficult year for crypto, it is one of the few firms clearly expanding in Switzerland.

Bitcoin Suisse, for example, announced that one in two jobs in Zug was at risk (finews.com reported).