Tag Archives: Sci & Tech

A CHF800 million ($805 million) new pumping station is under construction north of Geneva as part of the Genilac project. Swiss lakes offer huge potential as renewable energy sources that can be used to cool and heat buildings. Geneva is expanding a pioneering thermal exchange project to help meet its climate goals, while other regions are taking the plunge. After transport, the second and third biggest sources of national greenhouse gas emissions are Swiss industry...

Joint research activities will be carried out at the Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland, at the Novartis Global Service Center in Dublin, Ireland, and at Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge, Britain. (© Keystone / Georgios Kefalas) Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis and computer giant Microsoft have signed a five-year partnership deal aimed at transforming the Basel-based pharma’s business – from finance to manufacturing – using artificial intelligence. The new...

Central bankers and politicians in many countries have expressed concerns about Libra’s potential impact. Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency poses no threat to central banks or to financial law and order, the head of the Geneva-based Libra Association tells swissinfo.ch. Many regulators, politicians and central banks have reacted with alarm to the proposed new digital payments system. Slated to launch next year, Libra plans to create a reserve of currencies – including...

The Swiss central bank produces paper money for general use, but will only contemplate digital currencies for specific industry use cases. The Swiss stock exchange wants the country’s central bank to issue a form of cryptocurrency to settle payments on its new digital securities trading platform. If the Swiss National Bank (SNB) agrees, it would represent a departure from its cautious policy on digital currencies. Stock...

A Korean delegation visited Switzerland’s Crypto Valley last autumn. Representatives from Switzerland’s growing cryptocurrency and blockchain sector say it has matured into a viable and respectable industry that demands to be taken seriously by banks. “The hype, nonsense and scams have gone away,” says Daniel Haudenschild, President of the Crypto Valley Associationexternal link (CVA), referring to a “wild west” phase...

Hackathons are high-octane events that challenge teams to provide solutions using technology More than 200 hackers from 19 countries converged on Switzerland at the weekend to take part in the Swiss Blockchain Hackathon. Participants were challenged to come up with blockchain innovations in a variety of sectors as diverse as finance, logistics and agriculture. Switzerland has hosted numerous hackathons over the past few...

Daniel Haudenschild (left) with the new CVA board following their election. (Crypto Valley Association) The new President of the Crypto Valley Association has vowed to turn around the divided organization. Daniel Haudenschild was elected on Thursday evening together with a new board following months of unrest. Speaking to swissinfo.ch two days after his shock departure from Swisscom Blockchain, Haudenschild said his...

Crypto Valley has attracted business delegations from many countries, such as South Korea, who watch a presentation on blockchain companies. The number of blockchain companies in Switzerland grew 20% to reach 750 in the last three months of 2018. But the market capitalisation of such firms, measured by the dollar exchange rate of tokens in circulation, more than halved as crypto-assets nose-dived in value. The uptick in...

Stable coins are proliferating as a means to counter the effects of huge price swings of cryptocurrencies. A new bond has been launched in Switzerland to help investors and blockchain start-ups escape the volatility of cryptocurrencies. Issued by Swiss Crypto Tokens, the bond is a representation of the safe haven currency on the blockchain. The first 10 million units of the bond, each worth a franc and pegged to the...

Pegging cryptocurrencies to traditional currencies is seen by some to be the answer to price volatility. Cryptoasset trading platform Smart Valor plans to launch a new cryptocurrency pegged to the Swiss franc. The CHFt coin will join a growing list of so-called ‘stable coins’ designed to dampen the huge price swings of cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, which limits their everyday use. Smart Valor said on Monday that it...