EU Regulations
Quick Takeaways From Reading the Liechtenstein Blockchain Act draft
My biggest takeaway from reading the Liechtenstein Blockchain (they named it “TT” for “trustworthy technology” – to ensure that the law is technology-neutral) Act draft version is that many of its provisions make a lot of sense. I really liked how a token is defined as a representation of any Read more…
Licensing
FinTech License Comes in Effect in Switzerland on January 1st, 2019
On January 1st, 2019 a new license type will become available to FinTech companies established in Switzerland. This so-called FinTech Authorization was introduced as an amendment to the Swiss Banking Act on June 15th, 2018, and has now come into force. In summary, if the number of clients’ funds accepted Read more…
AML
My Transaction Monitoring is Becoming Too Expensive – How to Optimize?
Many startup founders ask me how to optimize the cost of transaction monitoring or blockchain tracking. Is it really necessary to send all transaction for monitoring and all blockchain transactions for risk-scoring? No! You can be selective and apply a risk-based approach 🙂 It might indeed be very costly to Read more…
My favorite companies
A Little Story About the Agony of Fundraising With A Happy End ;-)
When I met M. late in 2017, his startup was running out of money and he was exhausted by fundraising. He spoke at every single conference and pitched weekly at different investor events, cold called, asked for introductions … and nothing worked. He approached me a few months ago not Read more…
Career
Where Big 4 Are Helpful and Where They Aren’t
Several startups recently complained to me how frustrated they are with Big 4 advisors and large law firms. “For all they money we are paying them, they came to the conclusion that our services should be subject to VAT, and then only by accident we discovered that they shouldn’t” Read more…
corporate governance
Why You Should Not Be Afraid Of Internal Auditors?
Many corporate functions hate internal audits. People perceive them as useless, time-wasting, police-playing and inflating problems that don’t exist to justify their existence – and the people behind them as incompetent, arrogant and what not… Just imagine, someone with very little knowledge about your challenges and your profession comes in, Read more…