We recently wrote about the zondacrypto cryptocurrency exchange starting cooperation with the Princess Charlene Foundation of Monaco. There was also an official meeting and debate as part of Top Marques Monaco in Monte Carlo – one of the most important global events in the automotive and luxury industries.
Top Marques Monaco and cryptocurrency talks
As part of Top Marques Monaco, zondacrypto organized a breakfast and debate on cryptocurrency regulation, “Cryptocurrency Regulation: A Look into the Future.” The meeting was conducted by the CEO of the stock exchange, Przemysław Kral. Guido Buehler, Lars Schlichting, Piotr Obidziński and Mattia L. Rattaggi appeared on site.
Kral noted that the cryptocurrency market is growing rapidly and today “one in 13 people owns cryptocurrencies”
In five years this will be a quarter of the world's population. Definitely, cryptocurrencies are the finances of tomorrow
– added.
In his opinion, cryptocurrencies will also be very important in the Principality of Monaco in the “near future”.
At this point he smoothly moved on to the topic of regulation. He said that the stock exchange he manages is “regulated” and even more so than “traditional banks”.
We have a very prestigious license in Estonia. And Estonia is now a country with strong regulations. (…) At the very beginning, there were about 15,000 entities like ours. Now we are one of 25. And we are the only cryptocurrency exchange that has this license. This means we are a fully regulated, safe and trusted company.
Here are our licenses. We are licensed in Canada and Switzerland (…)
– he continued enumerating. He also pointed out that zondacrypto also operates in Italy.
Italians are extremely friendly towards cryptocurrencies. They are extremely innovation-oriented. And the community (there) is wonderful. We really love the Italian market. Maybe the next step will be France and definitely Monaco.
We also have a license in Slovakia and Lithuania and our main license in Estonia. And of course we are regulated in Poland. As I said, we are trusted, regulated and would like to become the first regulated cryptocurrency exchange in Monaco
– added.
Lugano example
At one point, Przemysław Kral gave the floor to Lars Schlichting, a lawyer who specializes in cryptocurrency issues. He talked about how the cryptocurrency market is developing in the Swiss city of Lugano. This is a great example of how to efficiently implement modern finance!
The city of Lugano, for those who don't know… is a city in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. There has been a program there for years under which all residents can get a 10% discount on services offered by the commune. So we had a card and if we showed it we could get a 10% discount
– the expert began.
Now what's the problem? The thing is that Lugano is a city that is very close to Italy. We have many Italians who come to Lugano every day and work in Lugano, and many locals who go to Italy to shop because it is cheaper there than in Switzerland.
(…) the problem is that if we give this 10% cashback, this 10% discount to the public, they can use it and spend the money outside the city, for example in Italy
– he continued.
However, the aim of the program was to “help local (Swiss) merchants.” The solution to the problem was cooperation with cryptocurrency companies that offered to create the Luga token, which in practice is a local stablecoin.
The token is issued by the municipality and is, as it were, a digital reflection of the Swiss franc. One hundred Luga tokens are equal to one Swiss franc.
(…) if you use services in the municipality (Lugano), you receive 10% cashback in a token
– Schlichting explained the ideas.
If you have this token, you can use it to pay for services in the city of Lugano
– he clarified.
The token application is used not only to collect funds in the form of cashback, but also to promote local merchants. Currently, the lawyer added, as many as 17% of people in the region pay with a token. In practice, this translates into as many as 40,000 people. However, this led to wider adoption, as stores also began to offer trading using bitcoin or tether.
Switzerland a decade after opening up to BTC
Next, Mattia L. Rattaggi from the Swiss investment company FiCAS AG spoke.
Switzerland has over 10 years of adoption behind it. Cryptovalley celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, as it was in 2013 that the first cryptocurrency companies established their headquarters in Zug
– he said.
What made you choose Zug? In his opinion, it was about the openness of local authorities and general openness to innovation.
In addition, there is a specific political culture:
You discuss things locally first and regulate them locally. Only if necessary do you go and ask for opinions at the federal level. This happens naturally when a new phenomenon acquires some significance. And this points to another element that is very important in Switzerland. Regulations are seen as a kind of help. Regulatory policy helps business. You only step in when needed. (…) And you don't try to stop anything. At the same time, you regulate it in such a way that it can thrive. The benefits for society, consumers and investors become more important than potential losses. I grew up in such an environment and with this approach and mentality, which is liberal, but I believe that it is the only approach that should work everywhere.
Guido Buehler, who has been working with zondacrypto since fall 2023, added that in the region “everyone knows about bitcoin and people buy bitcoin because they hope its value will increase.” He also pointed out what many people still don't understand. Criticizing BTC for being a digital currency makes no sense. Today all money is digital. In the case of BTC, however, we are talking about a certain advantage:
When we pay with a Visa card or bank transfer today, it is digital money. So how is this different from Bitcoin? Well, the difference is the protocol, it's a peer-to-peer protocol.
All this increases safety:
The moment I press the button (in the wallet app), the recipient has the money, irrevocably.
Open to innovation
Then Piotr Obidziński, president of the Raków Częstochowa football club with which zondacrypto cooperates, took the floor. As the owner of the club said, he is open to innovation.
Now it is possible to pay for tickets using cryptocurrencies
– he said.
Football of the future is a business financed by blockchain, at least that's how I imagine it
– he added, pointing out that payment innovations can help, for example, buy new football players and revolutionize the sports market in general.
His statement was complemented by Kral, who admitted that many zondacrypto customers are people from Ukraine who “send cryptocurrencies from our exchange directly to Ukraine.”
In Ukraine you can go and pay with tether, ether, USDT, USDC, whatever, for normal things
-added.
The above debate helps illustrate the potential of cryptocurrencies. zondacrypto remains, as you can see, one of the industry leaders.
