Swiss telecommunications giant Swisscom has announced that it has established a new blockchain subsidiary in order to push forward the development of blockchain applications in the country.

The new entity, Swisscom Blockchain Ltd., is domiciled in Konradstrasse in Zurich. Swisscom holds a 70% stake and the remaining 30% is held by the founding partners. The company will be led by Daniel Haudenschild, who joined Swisscom from EY.

“Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionise 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, organisations and objects with highly available infrastructure,” Urs Schaeppi, CEO Swisscom, said.

Swisscom said that it is bringing together blockchain specialists for this initiative. The consultancy team of the new subsidiary will be strengthened by a team with experience of blockchain, set to join at the beginning of October 2017.

For initial testing, Swisscom is offering developers a virtual workshop and tool: the Blockchain Crypto Infrastructure, which will facilitate quick implementation of pilot projects and minimal viable products (MVPs). The platform can also be deployed for productive solutions on highly available, secure infrastructure, which Swisscom uses for customer banks, for example. In addition to consultation and the implementation of blockchain applications, Swisscom Blockchain Ltd also supports initial coin offerings (ICOs).

“The combination of consultation, development expertise and blockchain infrastructure is unique in Switzerland up to now,” Robert Gebel, Head of Banking & Industries at Swisscom and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Swisscom Blockchain Ltd, said.