Statement on the 12-Point Program for a Forward-Looking Digital Financial Center

The Bitcoin Association Switzerland supports the 12-point program jointly developed by leading industry associations to foster a strong and future-oriented environment for digital innovation in Switzerland. We believe this framework is an important step toward ensuring regulatory clarity, technological advancement, and an open, competitive financial system that empowers individuals and businesses alike.

The Bitcoin Association Switzerland, in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the Swiss Blockchain Federation, welcomes the Federal Council's acceptance of a motion and the positive answer to an interpellation introduced by National Councilor Benjamin Fischer. This development marks a significant step forward in enhancing regulatory clarity for Bitcoin and digital assets in Switzerland.

Bitcoin Association Switzerland (BAS) is proud to announce the appointment of a new board, marking a fresh chapter in its long-standing commitment to Bitcoin advocacy and innovation. Founded in 2013, BAS has a rich history of being at the forefront of global Bitcoin adoption. As one of the earliest Bitcoin associations, it played a pivotal role in positioning Switzerland as a global leader in Bitcoin and Blockchain technology.

Dear Members of Bitcoin Association Switzerland, We are excited to share our first update with you as your newly appointed board. We recently held our first board meeting, and we want to ensure transparent communication with all of you as we begin this journey together.

While the Bank for International Settlement / Basel Committee on Banking Supervision continues to propose regulation, they also have developed a habit of not addressing legitimate concerns from the community. That is highly regrettable, but no reason to throw in the towel. So the Bitcoin Association Switzerland continues to provide constructive feedback and - so we think - well argued suggestions on how to improve on the longterm goals of the BIS to make the space safer and allow for more innovation.

The Bank for International Settlement (BIS) has recently published a consultative paper on the Prudential Treatment of Crytpoasset Exposure. Being good citizens, we were happy to follow the BIS' call for a response to their proposals with constructive feedback that not only points out where they err, but more importantly how some of the proposed principals will prove detrimental to the stability of the financial system they BIS is trying to protect. Never has a proverb being more fitting than this: the path to hell is paved with good intentions.

The Bitcoin Association Switzerland has sent a comment on the FATF's revised draft guidance on crypto assets. In a consciously "expansive" approach, the FATF proposes to classify participants in decentralized systems as financial intermediaries even if they do not engage in financial intermediation. This would erode the benefits of disintermediation and cause great harm to the nascent sector of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). We criticize this approach and suggest a number of measures to contain the potential damage of imprudent regulation.

Today we sent the following letter to the Financial Stability Board of the G-20 commenting on their risk assessment for "global stablecoins":

On the 8th of April 2020 we sent the following comment to FINMA regarding the new money laundering ordinance...

In December 2019 the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published a discussion paper on the design of a prudential treatment for crypto-assets and welcomed comments on its analyses and ideas. The comment submitted by the Bitcoin Association Switzerland are the following...

While the Crypto Valley Association's paper on "Asset Tokenization" contains many insightful sections, there are other sections that get some fundamental legal considerations embarrassingly wrong. Further questionable is a piece of advice that could make an issued token incompatible with the law. In this blog post, we shed light on the three biggest blunders of the paper.

In March, the Federal Council presented a draft for a number of legal adjustments and invited Bitcoin Association Switzerland to take part in the public consultation. The consultation phase ends this month and we have filed an extensive comment, in which we support the position of the Swiss Blockchain Federation and lay out some of our common concerns in more detail. In this blog post, I will summarize the content of the proposed law as well as the comments of both Blockchain Federation and Bitcoin Association.

The federal council published its 170-page report on the legal foundations of the blockchain in Switzerland. It incorporates the findings of the consultation that took place in September and to which the Bitcoin Association also provided some inputs. All in all, it is great that the Swiss government not only recognizes the potential of the blockchain, but also applies the right strategy for allowing the blockchain-ecosystem to flourish.

There are some hints that abstract systems like Ethereum should legally be treated like their own entities. The latest such hints comes from the context of value-added tax (VAT or MWST in German), where the taxation of transaction fees is practically impossible when trying to find a taxable relationship between miners and users.

The last few weeks have been very busy in the regulatory debate about Bitcoin and its consequences within the legal framework.

The Bitcoin scene in Switzerland has been strong since Mike Hearn, former Bitcoin developer and author of Bitcoinj, organized the first local Bitcoin meetup in February 2011. Over the years we have grown from a handful of people to over 5'500 Bitcoiners, making Switzerland home to one of the biggest Bitcoin communities in the world.

Marcel Dobler, member of the Swiss national parliament and co-founder of digitec.ch, proposed a law that could turn out to be very helpful for Crypto Nation Switzerland. It would give you the right to get your digital assets back in case you have stored them with a provider that goes bankrupt.

The Swiss government has proposed a law that inadvertently threatens Switzerland's excellent position in the international race for becoming the preferred jurisdiction for crypto startups.

BCash/Bitcoin cash did it on August 1st 2017, Bitcoin2x/Segwit2x does it at block 494,784. For better or worse, creating a new cryptocurrency by forking off of Bitcoin seems to be this season's fashion.

Record attendance for Bitcoin Meetup with Tony Vays in Zurich. The event with Tony Vays was attended by more than 330 Bitcoin enthusiast in Volkshaus Zurich.

Lakeside Partners joins the Bitcoin Association Switzerland by mining their own Bitcoin to pay membership fees.

A personal journey through the Bitcoin world, exploring encounters with key figures and investigating the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto.

Learn how to get involved with the Bitcoin community in Switzerland through meetups, Telegram, Twitter, membership, and donations.

The Bitcoin Association Switzerland comments on the latest proposal to improve regulation for fintech startups in Switzerland.

Alexis Roussel, cofondateur de Bity, discusses the difference between true cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and centralized alternatives on Leman Bleu TV.

At the annual general assembly of the Bitcoin Association Switzerland on the 28th of March 2017, our members appointed two new board members.

Manual Stagars is creating a Swiss FinTech documentary and talked to Luzius Meisser about the blockchain and opportunities for Switzerland.

Together with 23 co-signatories from all major parties, Swiss member of parliament Franz Gruter filed a parliamentary motion to reduce regulatory burdens of blockchain startups by restricting the legal definition of 'client deposit'.

The Bitcoin Association is invited to hold a talk about Bitcoin about twice per month at average. Here is a picture of one of the more notable events with 300 registered participants.

In a report published today, the Swiss government answers questions raised in two parliamentary postulates. The report concludes that Bitcoin is covered by existing laws and that no new regulation is needed.

The enormous computing power of the GHash.IO pool sparked another debate about 51%-attacks. In this post, I want to dispel the 'luck smoothing' argument.

In a recently published guide titled 'how consumers can protect themselves from financial market actors that operate without permit', the Swiss financial market authorities commented on Bitcoin.

In this guest article, Luzius Meisser reflects on MtGox's collapse and argues that fewer regulations would have enabled better market mechanisms to prevent such failures.

Our general assembly will take place on 2014-02-23 at Colab Zurich. Highlights include an intro to Ethereum and membership application form.

Swiss investment guru Marc Faber publishes a monthly market commentary. Along with the June commentary, he sent his subscribers a report on Bitcoin, titled "Dispelling the Myths of Bitcoin" and written by Lee Robinson from Atlana wealth. I already was in contact with Faber last autumn suggesting that he should send my report on Bitcoin to his readers - which he unfortunately did not even though he indicated interest. The report he finally attached is an interesting read, containing an excellent collection of quotes...

Luzius Meisser appears on Swiss radio program Echo der Zeit to discuss Bitcoin.

Join us for a general discussion meetup to talk about Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Luzius Meisser had a quick appearance on French-speaking Swiss TV RTS as well as on euronews.