Is Bitcoin the New Swiss Bank Account (And Is That a Problem?)
Bitcoin was embraced by many for its libertarian ideals of economic liberty and individual sovereignty. But it has now effectively been dragged into the current, and very public, privacy debate between Apple and the FBI. Last week, President Barack Obama said he believes a balance must be sought between privacy and security. As one example of the risks....
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Switzerland’s central bank, the Swiss National Bank, says buying and holding bitcoin as a reserve currency is not a problem for the bank. “We can arrange the technical and operative conditions relatively quickly, when we are convinced we must have bitcoin in our balance sheet,” the chairman of the Swiss central bank reportedly explained. Switzerland’s Central Bank on Buying and Holding Bitcoin as a Reserve Currency The Swiss National Bank could buy and hold bitcoin as a reserve currency if the cryptocurrency meets the bank’s currency reserves....
Swiss banks have decided to turn down U.S citizens who want to open up offshore bank accounts in Switzerland. This is due to the U.S’s new foreign account regulations for banks to disclose the information of american accounts. This could be an opportunity for Americans to switch over to Bitcoin. Privacy concerns. According to Bloomberg, the U.S ambassador in Switzerland has sent numerous letters to Swiss bank executives on the challenges Americans already have when opening a bank account in an attempt to get Swiss banks to rethink their decision of not accepting American clients. Suzan....
Despite its volatility, Bitcoin has been the best performing currency in the world for 5 of the past 6 years. The rapidly increasing value of the digital currency and its decentralized nature have led it to be considered as the global safe asset for investors and traders. For decades, Swiss bank accounts were the ideal global asset for most entrepreneurs and investors, due to its anonymity and privacy. Prior to the formation of a contract between the EU and Switzerland, anyone could open Swiss bank accounts, store funds and be free of all tax obligations. The end of the Swiss banks era.....
Further to CoinTelegraph's investigation into Bitcoin's potentially lethal impact on the banks, The Financial Times reported Tuesday that Switzerland has agreed to share the identities of foreign owners of Swiss bank accounts with their home countries. This move reverses centuries of Swiss commitment to banking privacy. Switzerland, long one of the world’s financial capitals, traditionally protected all bank account holders’ privacy and anonymity. We’ve all grown up with a particular idea of what it means to have a Swiss bank account. That idea, and those ideals, are obsolete. Forty-seven....
A group of Swiss Bitcoin advocates led by Yves Bennaïm has initiated a referendum to amend the Swiss constitution in a way that would mandate the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to include BTC alongside gold in its currency reserves, as reported by local media. The proposed amendment to the Swiss constitution is succinct yet significant. […]