Switzerland

Chinese bitcoin mining giant Bitmain Technologies is expanding to Switzerland in a move that will be key to widening its reach, the group told a Swiss newspaper.

Local Swiss publication Handelszeitung reported that the subsidiary, Bitmain Switzerland, was registered in Zug last month, to Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu, Ti Liu (a Chinese national residing in Birrwil), and Christian Johannes Meisser (a Swiss national residing in Klosters-Serneus), according to commercial registry filings.

As an epicentre of blockchain, the revolutionary technology behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Zug is cutting edge. The town is home to early innovators like the cryptocurrency exchange Bitcoin Suisse, which among other things runs Bitcoin ATMs in most Swiss cities and the Zug government itself, which caused a media stir when it became the first in the world to accept Bitcoin as payment for government services.

If you buy a "Swiss-made" watch thinking it’s almost entirely produced in Switzerland, you might be mistaken. The manufacture of components including dials, sapphire glass and cases is flourishing in China, Thailand and Mauritius and many of these end up in watches designated as "Swiss-made".

Stricter rules came into force last year for watches bearing the coveted label on their dial and for which consumers are prepared to pay a premium.

Caterpillar has long used a subsidiary in Geneva, Switzerland, called Caterpillar SARL, to process sales and profits for international orders, and the IRS wants the heavy-machinery maker to pay a $2 billion tax bill on that business, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal story goes onto say that, although the company maintains that its Swiss strategy, which results in an effective tax rate there of as low as 4%, is legal, some Caterpillar employees have questioned the practice, which began in 1999.

The consumer protection organization in Switzerland, SKS filed a claim for nearly 6,000 Volkswagen car owners seeking damages from the carmaker and AMAG the Swiss car dealer, for the emissions scandal. The claim was handed over to the Zurich commercial court.

SKS said it was assuming damages amounted on average to 15 per cent of the initial retail price of the vehicles concerned and that, together with insurance companies supporting the legal action, it wanted to give Swiss-based car owners the possibility to enforce their rights without disproportionate financial risk.

Switzerland’s value-added tax regime will change from January 1, 2018, including to level the playing field for domestic companies compared with their online, overseas rivals.

Currently, foreign companies providing services in Switzerland do not have to pay VAT on Swiss turnover up to a CHF100,000 threshold. In this way, it led to competitive disadvantages for Swiss businesses, especially in the border regions.

Legendary Swiss ski resort St. Moritz has announced on Thursday that they will begin accepting Bitcoin payments for lift passes. The 2017/18 season that has just begun will be the first in which the payment method is trialled.

According to Swiss public television, SRF, and the newspaper Südostschweiz, Engadin St Moritz is the first Swiss lift company to recognise payments with cryptocurrencies.

Swiss President Doris Leuthard has said a referendum would help clarify the country’s position on its relationship with the European Union.

Tensions between Switzerland and the EU have increased in recent days after the EU granted Swiss stock exchanges access to EU markets for only one year. The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and Regulation (called MiFID II/MiFIR), will come into force on January 3. Swiss officials slammed the decision to allow access for only a year, calling it discriminatory, and threatened to retaliate.