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Bitcoin (BTC) ATM manufacturer Lamassu moved to Switzerland due to regulatory difficulties in other countries, according to a post published on January 1st.
Lamassu – now called Lamassu Industries AG – moved to the Swiss canton of Lucerne, because the company wants to "be in a place where the rules are well defined and regulators are pro-innovation".
Lamassu has revealed in the post that his applications for opening an account have been rejected by 15 banks because it produces terminals for Bitcoin, while not participating in the trading or storage of digital currencies. In addition, the company was allegedly rejected by the Stripe payment processor to get the word Bitcoin on its site.
Switzerland is known for its crypto-friendly approach and for the "Crypto Valley" blockchain development center in the city of Zug. In December, Zug was ranked as the fastest growing technology community in Europe. Zug was the best in a comparison between the annual growth of the participants and the "meetup" events related to technology by European city, with an increase of 177% compared to last year.
Several major companies in the cryptocurrency space have moved to more friendly jurisdictions as a means of regulatory arbitrage. In May, the former largest cryptocurrency exchange in Poland, BitBay, decided to suspend its activities in the country as banks would no longer cooperate with the company. The exchange announced that it would instead be led by a new supplier in the Republic of Malta, where local laws are more cryptic.
Later, in June, the world's largest cryptic exchange, Binance, opened a bank account in Malta, stating that the new bank account was a "very significant" development since the exchange revealed that it was transferring its headquarters general on the island. Reportedly, the move was made following the news that the Japanese regulators had issued a warning for the exchange.
In addition to Switzerland and Malta, other countries – such as Bermuda, Estonia and Liechtenstein – are also actively adapting and creating legislation to accommodate blockchains and encryption projects. In July, Bermuda presented plans to amend banking law to establish a new class of banks offering services to local fintech and blockchain organizations.
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