Swisscom, a Swiss government owned telecom company, has created a new subsidiary to push forward its activities centered around the blockchain applications, in and for Switzerland. It has been researching and testing application scenarios for blockchains since 2015.
This move comes months after Swisscom became the member (since the end of 2016) of Hyperledger blockchain project, a leading worldwide blockchain consortium.
According to the recent media release, Swisscom has established Swisscom Blockchain Ltd. with a major stake of 70% in it, remaining 30% will be held by the founding partners. It will be located in Konradstrasse in Zurich.
“Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize business models and ecosystems in almost all sectors by providing secure connections between all participants. And this is ingrained in Swisscom’s DNA: securely connecting people, organizations and objects with highly available infrastructure.” Swisscom CEO, Urs Schaeppi.
Swisscom Blockchain Ltd. is developed with the aim to focus on a wide array of services including enterprise-facing solutions, consultation and the implementation of blockchain applications and support for initial coin offerings (ICOs) for companies who are looking to launch them. ICOs are an alternative source of finance for projects and companies.
Swisscom will have its IT expertise and specialized partners in the financial and legal sectors, to contribute to the secure settlement of transactions. It is also working on projects that are a solution for commercial register and digital stock.
Telecom giant has already implemented the Swiss OTC blockchain, a software prototype of a blockchain-based solution for off-exchange trading with Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) and other partners.
The Swisscom Blockchain Ltd is being led by Daniel Haudenschild and the consultancy team of Swisscom Blockchain Ltd will be joined by a team with an experience of blockchain set, at the beginning of October 2017.
