The combined valuation of the top 50 blockchain-related firms in the Swiss canton of Zug — known as “Crypto Valley” within the industry — fell by nearly half in 2019.
Swiss investment firm CV VC debuted a new report at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22, giving an appraisal of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries in the Crypto Valley during the last year.
Per the report, the valuation and subsequent price drop in Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, led to a 40% drop in valuation of the top 50 firms — from $42.6 billion in H1 2019 to $25.3 billion in H2 2019.
One-year Ether price chart. Source: Coin360
But Ether price isn’t everything
CV VC director Ralf Kubli told a Cointelegraph correspondent at the World Economic Forum that, while all crypto related firms are ultimately influenced by token prices, it is important to examine funding inflows and employment:
“Overall funding has increased, so the real money that flows into the projects that we count in the top 50 has increased, so that’s basically a really important indicator for us that it continues to grow. And since [...] employment has increased among the top 50 — employment has increased overall in the space in Switzerland — so that’s kind of how we gauge…”
Indeed, the report notes that funding to the top 50 projects increased from $3.8 billion in H1 2019 to $4 billion in H2 2019. The top selected projects also employ 733 of over 4,400 crypto and blockchain professionals currently working in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Last year saw new additions to the top 50
As Kubli further noted, the top 50 companies change every year depending on their annual performance. 2019, for its part, saw the addition of several noteworthy projects to the list, including Libra — the global stablecoin project first proposed by Facebook — cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Global and Ethereum development firm CasperLabs. The report also noted several unicorns — startups valued at over $1 billion — including Bitmain, PolkaDot and DFinity
Overall, the report states that indicators are pointing to a maturation of cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, with 842 related firms now operating in Switzerland.