Switzerland Inches Closer to Cryptocurrency Regulation

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The world is waking up to the need to regulate the Cryptocurrency industry, and so is Switzerland. The Swizz legislation has recently passed an approval, asking the Federal Council to regulate the domain, henceforth. It now remains to be seen and understood whether the cryptocurrency platform and the persons creating it should be equated with financial institutions and banks and whether they need similar supervision. Moreover, Cryptocurrencies are yet to be considered as the legal form of exchange, and therefore prosecution for its offenders becomes difficult as there are no specific regulations pertaining to it.

The Council will now be adapting the provisions on “judicial and administrative procedural instruments” in order to apply them to cryptocurrencies. It was also said that the step was taken to ensure that there are no criminal activities surrounding the token since the way it is being operated can lead to extortion and money laundering. The motion was introduced by Giovanni Merlini, and it got approval with 99 votes to 83 votes in favour. It got 10 abstentions.

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Switzerland has had a very progressive stance toward Cryptocurrencies because it even tried to strengthen and facilitate the relationship between blockchain and cryptocurrency companies. It needs to be mentioned here that the companies based in the country are also opening up to cryptocurrency exchange as a means of payment. For instance, Digitec Galaxus, one of the biggest retailers in Switzerland announced that it would start accepting Bitcoin payments.

Switzerland is home to Crypto Valley which houses a cluster of businesses, based in Zug. Zurich. This valley has been the centre of attraction for many years because of its concept of Cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, Swiss finance minister Ueli Maurer stated that the proposed developments exceeded the expectation of the people of Switzerland. The ministers further added that the motion was put in place to ensure that the new technology is added to the financial system of the country. Earlier, there were speculations about the stability of Cryptocurrency exchanges, raised by the Basel Committee of Banking Services (BCBS). The entity further argued that crypto assets are unsafe to rely on since there could be many loopholes in the functioning of the same.

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The dichotomy is clear. While the banks are yet to establish their trust in the safety of Cryptocurrency, government agents are welcoming it. So much so, that Swiss Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann stated at a conference that Switzerland aims to be a Crypto nation.