The Crown Prince of Liechtenstein has told CNBC that blockchain and cryptocurrencies like bitcoin could be one way to help his family restore its wealth.
"Particularly with this whole new digital economy, it is something to look into more into in the future," Crown Prince Alois told CNBC on Friday.
Liechtenstein is a German-speaking microstate in Central Europe with a population of less than 40,000 people. The principality owes much of its wealth to its traditional status as a tax haven, though it has attempted to rebrand itself as a legitimate financial centre.
Bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and Austria to the east and north, the principality is headed by the Prince of Liechtenstein although in practicality, power now lies with his son, Crown Prince Alois.
After the Second World War his family had been forced to sell its art collection but the prince said that now, with its finances better balanced and the art collection largely restored, his family is looking to invest in other asset classes, even something like cryptocurrency bitcoin.
The prince added that while cryptocurrency was still "very risky" the underlying technology could be employed to better run the principality.
"Blockchain will change a lot of things, it could even help make our state more efficient the way it is administered."
Alois said the royal family did not currently have internal expertise to invest in cryptocurrencies but that could change.
