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Swiss government report: Bitcoin too ‘insignificant’ for legislation
for the time being, it will not create legislation relating specifically
to bitcoin or other digital currencies.
claims the economic importance of these currencies is currently “fairly
insignificant” and the council doesn’t expect this to change in the
near future.
of postulates by National Councillors Jean-Christophe Schwaab and
Thomas Weibel last year, which asked the Federal Council to examine the risks and opportunities associated with bitcoin.
No ‘legal vacuum’
point the government is keen to stress in the report is that virtual
currencies are not in a “legal vacuum”, meaning that existing laws apply
to activities associated with these currencies. It states:
“Contracts
with virtual currencies are enforceable in principle and penalties can
be imposed for criminal offences associated with virtual currencies.
Certain business models based on virtual currencies are subject to
financial market laws and need to be subjected to financial market
supervision.
Professional trade in virtual currencies and the
operation of trading platforms in Switzerland generally come under the
scope of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. This includes compliance with
the obligation to verify the identity of the contracting party and
establish the identity of the beneficial owner.”
of the laws that apply to certain uses of digital currency include the
Swiss Code of Obligations, the Federal Act on Combating Money Laundering
and the Financing of Terrorism in the Financial Sector, plus the
Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks.
Legal certainty
told CoinDesk he was pleased the report had clarified the legal status
of bitcoin: “The report ensures legal certainty. That’s the most
important topic at this point. Now, people who trade bitcoin can know
which financial sector regulation applies or not.”
“The more I learn about bitcoin, the less I remain sceptical about it!”
a big mistake for a country like Switzerland with a strong financial
sector. I hope the banking sector will be cleverer than the Government
on that point, but I’m pessimistic.”
the last months, my personal views about bitcoin have evolved: the more
I learn about bitcoin, the less I remain sceptical about it!”
Roussel, CEO of Swiss based cryptocurrency broker SBEX, said the report
represented good news for the Swiss bitcoin ecosystem.
an ATM would be considered directly as money transmitting service, with
tighter rules. This is starting to shape how bitcoins ATM will work,”
Roussel said.
need to be licensed, unless they can ensure the user is in control of
the private key of the bitcoin wallet they are sending to.
is imposing high standards in the bitcoin financial world, but this will
be beneficial for consumers in the end,” he added.
The risks
report gives examples of the risks associated with bitcoin, stating
that, while there is no risk of it damaging the country’s existing
financial sector, consumers are vulnerable to volatility and security
issues.
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Swiss regulators give green light for Bitcoin ATM Network
Jumping through regulatory hoops
“We finally got clearance from ARIF, who were asking FINMA many questions about how they should deal with us. [The clarification from ARIF] is what we were expecting.”
Cancelled ATM launch
“I don’t really know why [Bitcoin Suisse AG] made so much noise [about its ATM]. Maybe they wanted to get themselves known or they want things to move quicker.”
“I think SBEX fulfilled all the regulatory requirements before Bitcoin Suisse did, so they got the approval first.”
Bitcoin Suisse chief executive Niklas Nikolasjen said his firm was working on obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals for their ATM. He said the media had overstated his firm’s cancelled ATM launch and that it had been consistently working to obtain regulatory approval.
“It is now clear to everyone in the industry that the regulatory authorities require certain steps to be undertaken by companies who professionally deal with digital finance. BTCS is naturally following these requests as well,” he said.
Expansion plans
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Ernst and Young Bitcoin accepted in Switzerland
Ernst and Young Bitcoin: the Swiss branch of global professional services firm will accept the cryptocurrency-kind of payment next year.
Starting in January, Ernst and Young Switzerland will allow bitcoin for invoice payments, as the company explained in a new press release.
Switzerland, Ernst and Young Bitcoin: a profitable relationship
The Swiss firm will also open a new BTM (or Bitcoin ATM) at its office in Zurich, as well as a wallet option for its employees.
This Ernst and Young project is part of the bigger cultural experiment on bitcoin and the distributed ledger conducted in Switzerland.
Late last month, in fact, Swiss railway service announced that it will sell bitcoin on its nationwide network of ticket kiosks; also the Swiss town called Zug will accept Bitcoin for public services payments, as its major explained back in May.
According to Ernst and Young, this launch fits perfectly with this experimental context created in the Swiss country.
Switzerland’s CEO, Marcel Stalder, commented that the company wants its employees to know digital currencies and the blockchain. This project is to provide ways to access a hands-on education, he said.
Stalder explained:
“We don’t only want to talk about digitalization, but also actively drive this process together with our employees and our clients. It is important to us that everybody gets on board and prepares themselves for the revolution set to take place in the business world through blockchains, smart contracts and digital currencies.”
Ernst and Young is just one of the “Big Four” accounting firms involved in the blockchain sector at the moment.
Recently, the company also decided to open a blockchain-related contest for startups with the goal of “exploring how blockchain technology can tackle challenges in digital rights management and energy trading.”
Learn more about Switzerland and Ernst and Young involvemet in the bitcoin field, by clicking on the links above.
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Switzerland Bitcoin Regulation will arrive next year
Switzerland Bitcoin Regulation might arrive next year.
Recently its national railway service “have jumped on the bitcoin bandwagon”, as explained by Coindesk, so now it’s time for Switzerland to start regulating fintech and digital currency.
A few days after the Swiss railway-related announcement, as SBB decided to sell bitcoin through its network of ticket kiosks – the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) announced its plans to regulate fintech with the goal of introducing a new regulation next year.
Key elements include plans for a new kind of license geared specifically toward fintech companies and a so-called regulatory “sandbox” for experimental firms. Under the proposed regime, the Financial Market Supervisory Authority would become the primary regulator of fintech firms working in Switzerland.
In a press release, the FDF explained that it will guide more researches about bitcoin and other digital currencies and it will study the distributed ledger broader applications .
The company explained:
“The FDF should conduct additional clarifications in cooperation with the interested authorities on reducing further barriers to market entry for fintech firms, also those outside financial market law (e.g. legal treatment of virtual currencies and assets).”
During a recent speech, Ueli Maurer, Swiss Finance Minister, commented that the proposed Switzerland Bitcoin regulation would help to attract more brands – even if the nation positive attitude has already attracted the attention of several blockchain-related startups to make their home in the country.
“We assume that with the steps we have prepared and the commitment we have to the overall financial services industry we can provide a solution that puts us among the top (countries) in the world that regulate this,” he explained.
Read more here about the Switzerland involvement in the fintech sector.
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Blockchain Insurance: applications for insures
Five major European companies will work on a blockchain insurance project to provide faster and safer services to their clients.
This project, called the Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative (B3I), has the goal of testing use cases that could help the insurance sector.
To do so, in fact, Allianz, Aegon, Munich Re, Swiss Re and Zurich, or the biggest companies of this field, are working to provide a meeting ground to exchange ideas with this objective: improving the insurance service and creating a new method of doing business.
“We want to be at the heart of these developments and see Blockchain as one of those potential catalysts for change. By actively creating partnerships and making strategic investments we can build smarter solutions together with our clients,” explained Mark Blook, chief technology officer at Aegon.
Allianz – which has already explored smart contracts for catastrophe bonds exchange and has already worked with fintech startups – belives that the distributed ledger can allow them to help transparency for their users.
“This initiative, enabling alternative operating models based on the Blockchain technology, can help us increase transparency and efficiency and deliver a better experience to our customer,” commented Allianz Group COO Christof Mascher.
Those 5 companies said they hope that other brands in the insurance and reinsurance industries will join the project with them.
According to a press release, the mai objective is taking advantage use cases “across the entire insurance value chain”.
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US Government awards Blockchain projects
Blockchain Award
Governments Interested in Bitcoin
Multicurrency Wallet
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US Postal Service to create its Digital Currency
Australian Postal Service has already started to study Bitcoin
Postcoin
Multicurrency Wallet
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Switzerland to accept Bitcoin for Public Services
Zug to accept Bitcoin
Will this idea succeed?
The city mayor is very upbeat
Multicurrencies Wallet – Open yours for free
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How the Bitcoin landscape is evolving in 2014
(CoinDesk) Like any new industry, there are so many areas to explore in the bitcoin space that sometimes make a week’s worth of developmentsit feel like a month or two have gone by.
1. Big-name retailers jumping on board
2. A warming regulatory climate
3. VC firms keep betting big
4. Building on the block chain
5. New emphasis on transparency
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