The DLT Act came into force in Switzerland on 1 August 2021. DLT stands for Distributed Ledger Technology — the family of technologies to which blockchain belongs. The Act creates the legal concept of the register value right: a security that does not exist physically but is entered on a decentralised register, with the same legal effect as a classical security.
In most countries asset tokens live in a grey zone — formally securities, but with no clarity on which regulation applies, how ownership transfers, or how courts decide disputes. In Switzerland all of this is resolved. Combined with FIDLEG, the DLT Act makes Switzerland one of the clearest jurisdictions in the world for serious tokenisation projects.
What the Act actually changed. The package came into force in two steps. The rules on ledger-based securities in the Code of Obligations applied first, from February 2021; the remaining provisions, including the new licence category for DLT trading facilities and the segregation of crypto-assets if a custodian goes bankrupt, followed on 1 August 2021. Together they answer the three questions that used to stall tokenisation projects: whether a register entry can be a security, where such securities may be traded, and what happens to them in an insolvency.
Why it matters for robot ownership. A pool of working robots is a long-lived asset that changes hands over years. Owners need certainty that a transfer on the register is legally effective, that their units are not part of the custodian’s estate if it fails, and that a regulated venue can exist for secondary trading. The DLT Act provides that certainty inside Switzerland, which is one reason asset tokens for real assets are issued from Swiss entities.
What to check. That the token is set up as a ledger-based security under a written registration agreement; which register is used and who operates it; and whether any trading venue offered to holders is licensed or exempt. The Act sets the frame; the issuer’s documents decide how it is used.