First Country to have comprehensive regulations for crypto token economy

[cryptoaddictchie]

In this recent news, https://cointelegraph.com/news/liechtensteins-parliament-unanimously-approves-new-blockchain-act


Liechtenstein’s Parliament has unanimously passed the Act on Tokens and Entities Providing Services Based on Trusted Technologies (TVTG), also known as the Blockchain Act.
Image Source:https://cointelegraph.com/news/liechtensteins-parliament-unanimously-approves-new-blockchain-act

Last October 3, 2019, Blockchain Act was approved by the Parliament of Liechtenstein. The Act created in the Country to improve major protection of investors that has business or investment related to cryptocurrency. The new passed Law will be implemented on January 1, 2020 which entitled Liechtenstein the first ever country to have regulations on token economy of cryptocurrency. Well, this is a good news to everyone as cryptocurrency is moving towards path of legality. I assume many countries or projects are probably interested to start their business there. Hopefully there is a regulation for foreign investment just in case they wanted to start a blockchain related business there.The newly approved law will put crypto again in a major spotlight and hoping those who criticise will see its worth.


According to Liechtenstein's Prime Minister  Adrian Hasler:

"With the TVTG an essential element of the financial center strategy of the government is implemented and Liechtenstein is positioned as an innovative and legally secure location for providers in the token economy.”


Very broad statement it is. But he has a point. Many people are fear to invest in cryptocurrency due to many factors that involve illegal and scam activity. Hope that this, move by Liechtenstein will be followed by other countries. I know its too early but its better late than never right? Early adoption is good and we know that sooner or later some will be on this stage as well.

[Wexnident]

It's great news not gonna lie. With this country being the first to step out in implementing comprehensive regulations, I believe more should follow in the next years since the first step had been done by someone. By the end of it all, more people would come to comprehend and appreciate the usefulness of blockchain technology to the world. I just hope that these regulations won't overstep their boundaries someday and let the crypto community still be like what it is today, free from control.

Blockchain companies moving to Liechtenstein will prove that accepting crypto to their country would provide more opportunities to participate in the crypto community and would also give more influence to their countries itself.

[hugeblack]

I think such a law could be called regulation to attract investment

"With the TVTG an essential element of the financial center strategy of the government is implemented and Liechtenstein is positioned as an innovative and legally secure location for providers in the token economy.”

They are trying to steal the limelight from Malta as a safe place for the growing Blockchain industry in the world.
I do not know if the topic is right, but I think they talk about "token economy," which talks about the modification of behavior to increase the desired behavior and reduce unwanted behavior, but I do not know whether the role of cryptocurrencies in such an economic circle.

[CryptoBry]

I think such a law could be called regulation to attract investment

"With the TVTG an essential element of the financial center strategy of the government is implemented and Liechtenstein is positioned as an innovative and legally secure location for providers in the token economy.”

They are trying to steal the limelight from Malta as a safe place for the growing Blockchain industry in the world.
I do not know if the topic is right, but I think they talk about "token economy," which talks about the modification of behavior to increase the desired behavior and reduce unwanted behavior, but I do not know whether the role of cryptocurrencies in such an economic circle.

I am sure that Malta will not be taking this news without doing something to further strengthen its brand as the blockchain and cryptocurrency destination in that part of the world. One thing that is good with this news is that there seems to be a healthy competition in these countries (no matter if they are just small ones) to provide the best business environment for fintech companies to based on these locations.

I am applauding the Liechtenstein for its pioneering act with its Blockchain Law approved by its parliament. Let's see if this can have a domino effect with other countries to follow the same. Maybe when other countries and their leaders can be seeing that Liechtenstein is getting a good chunk of new business and investments all because it officially opened its doors to crypto-related business then maybe other countries can be encouraged to do a similar act.

I just look at the facts on the Principality of Liechtenstein and this is an interesting place with a very small population. Seems to me that smaller or microstates are getting to be interested with the blockchain and cryptocurrency...this can be because they are not afraid of anything to be disrupted as they can easily cope with innovations and the changes they are bringing.

[magneto]

Well, this is a good news to everyone as cryptocurrency is moving towards path of legality. I assume many countries or projects are probably interested to start their business there. Hopefully there is a regulation for foreign investment just in case they wanted to start a blockchain related business there.The newly approved law will put crypto again in a major spotlight and hoping those who criticise will see its worth.

Perhaps this is the only country to explicitly state these regulations within legislation, but it is certainly not the first country to implicitly regulate tokens as a security or something like that.

Also, I think that your assumption here that all regulations are a path to more legalisation is a dead wrong one. The fact is that not all regulations are positive regulations, and there can be plenty of clauses that doesn't do any good, but rather imposes even more restrictions on top of an already restricting environment for investors.

But clarifying certain issues when it comes to tokens can be very useful. Whether tokens are treated as currency, securities, or a good can severely impact one's tax liabilities.

[AniviaBtc]

It's great news not gonna lie. With this country being the first to step out in implementing comprehensive regulations, I believe more should follow in the next years since the first step had been done by someone. By the end of it all, more people would come to comprehend and appreciate the usefulness of blockchain technology to the world. I just hope that these regulations won't overstep their boundaries someday and let the crypto community still be like what it is today, free from control.

Blockchain companies moving to Liechtenstein will prove that accepting crypto to their country would provide more opportunities to participate in the crypto community and would also give more influence to their countries itself.

That's true that by this regulation, this is a big help for people for them to peacefully use blockchain technology. This will promote and provide more user to use this kind of digital currency. It will also serve us the limit for them to not exceed those boundaries and not to violate some regulations to avoid conflict during transactions.

As what you've said many people will continue on the right path using cryptocurrency. This will lead to success and development of this kind of platform.

[avikz]

One of the smallest country can afford it

If size really mattered, UK wouldn't have ruled/invaded 171 countries of the world at some point of time. If size really mattered, Russia would have been the richest/smartest country of the world. If size really mattered, Germany wouldn't have become the engineering superpower! What matters most is willingness to do great, not size! For your information, Liechtenstein tops the world list of per capita income!

The ICO market is filled with scammers and fakers due to which ICO market is slowly drying out. I am sure, having a comprehensive legislation will surely help ICO market revive slowly but surely! It would not have immediate impact on the token economy but at least countries have started taking baby steps. Till date we had no legal framework around ICOs apart from China (Banned) and US (arbitrary legislation). It's good that one economically well developed country had decided something good for token economy!

[ropyu1978]

One of the smallest country can afford it

It is a good news though just as that of Malta but a country with already existing robust economy adopting such legislation will make greater impact in the cryptocurrency usage.

they would have reviewed that and assumed more good would result, although they are classified as small countries, it doesn't rule out the possibility of having a large impact and is able to influence other countries to make regulations

[NathanJB]

Since this Blockchain Act is to improve major protection for cryptocurrency-related investments and businesses, I wonder if they also have an insurance for them? Most problems related to crypto businesses are somehow connected with the unpredictable and irregular rise and fall of prices. Businesses might be terribly affected if the prices will suddenly dives.

[ivakar]

If size really mattered, UK wouldn't have ruled/invaded 171 countries of the world at some point of time. If size really mattered, Russia would have been the richest/smartest country of the world. If size really mattered, Germany wouldn't have become the engineering superpower! What matters most is willingness to do great, not size! For your information, Liechtenstein tops the world list of per capita income!

this is really not that simple as you say, to all your reasoning we have to add at a given time! because before UK Portugal and Spain had quite a lot of colonies.
by they Russia is richest country, for a source of fresh water, for example, also I highly doubt that dumb people could create and rule such a huge country over centuries
"Liechtenstein tops the world list of per capita income" - means nothing, cause in real world it do not produce anything, this is all finance and service income

but I strongly agree with @What matters most is willingness to do great, not size@ - that is true and nothing to add.

[ecnalubma]

Most countries need solid regulation like this to deter scams involving cryptocurrency. The number of cryptocurrency projects will potentially increase in following years as an advance approach government should start to craft applicable guidelines .

[jmigdlc99]

In this recent news, https://cointelegraph.com/news/liechtensteins-parliament-unanimously-approves-new-blockchain-act

-snip-

Seems like reposting cointelegraph posts are a thing now.

In any case, this is great news for crypto, especially for a country i've never even heard from before today. Hopefully many other countries follow suit and treat this as a healthy competition booster towards increasing crypto adoption. Surely economic benefit will follow such regulation.

[blckhawk]

This should introduce cryptocurrency to more people, which is good. It will affect how bitcoin and other altcoins are portrayed to the public and seen it as not only a scam but a real technology with potential. This will also introduce the blockchain and its possible applications not only for payments but also to other purposes.

[error08]

I think such a law could be called regulation to attract investment

"With the TVTG an essential element of the financial center strategy of the government is implemented and Liechtenstein is positioned as an innovative and legally secure location for providers in the token economy.”

They are trying to steal the limelight from Malta as a safe place for the growing Blockchain industry in the world.
I do not know if the topic is right, but I think they talk about "token economy," which talks about the modification of behavior to increase the desired behavior and reduce unwanted behavior, but I do not know whether the role of cryptocurrencies in such an economic circle.

Obviously, another country joins the crypto-world to attract fintech and blockchain companies as "Bittrex recently announced its new trading platform, Bittrex Global, to be headquartered in Liechtenstein. Bittrex chose to establish a trading platform in Liechtenstein because of the small country's clarity in regulating digital currencies and blockchain technology.
Nevertheless, whenever crypto law and regulations emerge, there will be Taxes behind it, people must be prepared whether all the crypto transactions should be reported to the government in the future.

[el kaka22]

I got confused for a second and was thinking "there are tons of crypto regulations all around the world" and didn't understand how there could be the "first one ever", for the people who think like me, this is the first regulation for the "token" side of things not the crypto itself.

Crypto regulations have been around for years now but tokens have been unregulated by a large margin, some countries had some issues and considered them to be crypto currency as well and dealt with it that way instead of having a brand new regulations for it, but Liechtenstein became the first country to have a standalone just token part of it regulated. Hopefully, it would make some sort of good return to investors who will have to follow the regulations and other countries will follow.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Well, this is a good news to everyone as cryptocurrency is moving towards path of legality.

Maybe, but I would not tout any legal regulations like this as much progress (although recognition in and of itself is a positive step).

Liechtenstein?  It figures a European country like that one would do this, and it makes me wonder what drove them to such a 'progressive' stance.  They probably want their name in the news and this is one way to do it.  I can't say I've heard much else from or about Liechtenstein.  I had to quickly google the name to even recall what they're all about.

Crypto regulations have been around for years now but tokens have been unregulated by a large margin, some countries had some issues and considered them to be crypto currency as well and dealt with it that way instead of having a brand new regulations for it, but Liechtenstein became the first country to have a standalone just token part of it regulated.

Dont know if it's really important whether they're regulating tokens, coins or what have you.  It's all crypto related and as I said, even if what they're doing is imposing regulations on tokens, its still a solid recognition that crypto is important and here to stay.

[beerlover]

I guess the politicians and bittrex had a talk and they agreed on a law that would make it easy for bittrex to operate there and they will be making headquarters there and easily deal with whatever exchanges can deal with while not worrying about the legality of things.

Don't forget that the biggest problem for the exchanges are the laws, they have like army of lawyers, I remember reading somewhere that most of them work with law firms and not even lawyers individually so they literally have a whole company full of lawyers working for them when needed. Which is why having a country where laws are more favorable towards you will make you decide to go there and also would be easy to beat out your competition while they still try to find a way to do what you are doing.

[Febo]

Blockchain companies moving to Liechtenstein will prove that accepting crypto to their country would provide more opportunities to participate in the crypto community and would also give more influence to their countries itself.

Having regulations is not good for companies. It is good for customers. Regulations are there to protect customers. For companies is best if there is zero regulations and they can experiment whatever and however they want.

[lobat999]

Blockchain companies moving to Liechtenstein will prove that accepting crypto to their country would provide more opportunities to participate in the crypto community and would also give more influence to their countries itself.

Having regulations is not good for companies. It is good for customers. Regulations are there to protect customers. For companies is best if there is zero regulations and they can experiment whatever and however they want.

I beg to disagree since in the end, regulations could be a boon to both companies and its customers! I guess no crypto related company would ever want to put up a business in an environment where there is no established framework or a clear set of regulations that will act as a safeguard for them. And in the end, they don't want to get into trouble with the Government assuming they had not complied with regulation requirements which could result to their businesses to shut down amidst a barrage of possible Government sanctions not mentioning all the legal repercussions that may arise.

Even Malta which hosts some of the big cyrpto companies has its own regulations, yet its more likely a  crypto friendly one and it advocates blockchain  technology - the reason why it attracts blockchain related companies. In line with this, if a Government has implemented crypto regulations, then it means to say that they have consent for this industry, provided companies will abide with existing rules and regulations. I guess most crypto companies would prefer this kind of setup rather than operate in an environment full of uncertainties.

[FanEagle]

Such news is what I like filling the market, it is very encouraging, although, this country is not much of a popular one, but it is better that adoption and regulation starts from some of these smaller countries, most of these big nations are just creating panic to the world because of their lack of interest as a result of fear that they will become less recognized by the smaller countries.

They have no choice now, as many of the smaller countries are already adopting cryptocurrency and like this country has done, most of their companies now will be able to use blockchain technology for their project and attracts investors to themselves who would believe that they are free because of the backing of government they have now, at least, their government would not watch them get scammed