while all eyes are on a third world country where adoption is going down
one of the richest and most advanced country, switzerland is adopting bitcoin at an accelerated pace:
everyone can buy bitcoin at one of the bitcoin atms all across the country.
everyone can open an account at the fully licensed bank swissquote and buy bitcoin. it can be downloaded into your private wallet.
many other companies in switzerland allow to buy bitcoin and download it to your own wallet. anyone can use any of the international services too.
also spending bitcoin is easy in switzerland: worldline put thousands of terminals into shops where you can pay in bitcoin like with a debit or credit card since 2019:
https://www.six-payment-services.com/en/shared/news/2021/crypto.html
many vendors offer the choice of paying directly with any app.
the leader in bitcoin adoption is the city of lugano: the idea was to attract bitcoin related jobs. 100 million swiss francs were put aside in order to provide financial incentives for bitcoin entrepreneurs.
the goal for this year is to have 2500 businesses accepting bitcoin. in the inner city it is already more than 90%. mcdonald's in lugano is accepting bitcoin.
krypto valley in canton zug was founded in 2016 by a non-profit organization. meanwhile the successful initiative comprises more than 1000 companies employing 6000 people. it has become a very strong factor for the local economy.
chiasso and other cities inside and outside of switzerland followed the successful initiatives.
what does this show? bitcoin needs educated people who value freedom and self-determination in order to be successful.
bitcoin is smart and honest. it needs smart people and honest people
My country Nigeria is a sharp contrast. The government is against Bitcoin and crypto but who can ban Bitcoin. Your country knows this and they just let it be made official instead of having people transacting in Bitcoin without their knowledge.
Your point is better made without the insulation of inferiority on the people of El Salvador. People need bitcoin. Most don't realize it yet.
insinuation. And I agree, the post could have been pretty good, the Lugano case is certainly interesting, but the tone of insult towards El Salvador is uncalled for.
To @drfred :
Rich people don't need bitcoin, not in terms of using it. People in more unstable environments need it more, but have a lot more trouble using it, for a few different reasons. Calling them uneducated and not smart just makes you sound like a prick.
Looks like Switzerland is trying to maintain its geopolitical role as a neutral corrective on a continent that is shifting towards socialism in its western part. After having destroyed bank privacy rules they need to do something. Good article, thank You.
It wasn't Switzerland's call to dismantle their banking rules, it was compelled by the the West.
They're not perfect either, but they're better than most countries.
They simply couldn't handle the pressure from german government. Selling customers data to german finance authorities clearly has been state action, implemented by the germans.
searches for flights to Switzerland
what you should know before you fly:
switzerland is the most expensive country on the planet.
if you make less than 4500 dollars per month you are below the poverty line.
a glass of beer in a pub is 8-11 usd
a small condo in a city rents for 3000 chf
I once had a 24 hour layover in zurich and got two sausages and a beer for like $30. A fondue dinner was like $170 for 3 people. We all had a bit of sticker shock coming from Portugal.
Ahh reminds me of NYC
Bit of an exaggeration, poverty line is $2,500 not $4,500
https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/economic-social-situation-population/economic-and-social-situation-of-the-population/poverty-deprivation/poverty.html
Can you buy KYC-free Bitcoin in those ATMs?
of course, it is only in el salvador where you have to give the 'government'
all of your most privated data on a chivo atm
think about that !!
in switzerland the people are the 'government'
Wow, I was thinking that's awesome until you said the death phrase "the people are the government". I hope that was sarcastic. This is trick/lie of democracy.
In many countries over a certain amount you need ID and in some you can only buy sats with ID. It was a serious question, not a political one.
A/ you don't have to give "all of your most privated data" to the government at a Chivo ATM
B/ you don't have to use Chivo ATMs either, not only is there a lot of p2p trade in ES, but also there are many many places (including govt offices) where you can spend bitcoin directly, and you can also do business deals entirely legally using only BTC.
not just el salvador. bitcoin ATMs are worthless in the US. They're all KYC
No, Chivo ATMs need only a phone number (not even a local one), and you can do 1K/day.
In most places in the West it's far far worse, and also the rates are appallingly bad compared to Chivo ATMs in ES.
Chivo is really problematic and bad in a lot of ways, but not so much the ATMs.
Still having said all of the above, I still couldn't recommend them unless you don't have other options. It's a quasi-govt controlled company that does not have a good track record with its tech.
Germany, if you hold your bitcoin for 1 year, capital gains after 1 year are tax free! few
That's the standard rule for assets, other countries have similar laws, like Australia, but only 50% discount after a year.
That's really cool. I didn't know that
Do those BTC ATMS need to do KYC? Switzerland had a reputation for respecting privacy, just wondering if its still the case.
phone number for sms confirmation
every train station has a bitcoin atm in the ticket vending machine from sbb
view on www.youtube.comthey only accept cash
What is the tax situation regarding bitcoin in Switzerland?
It makes sense. They loved gold. Of course, they are going to love Bitcoin even more.
I remember in 2015 when all the train stations in Switzerland started selling BTC directly from their automated ticket booths. Everyone went wild, thinking that it was practically legal tender across Switzerland now...
But we learned over time that no one was buying it, just a few die-hard hodlers.
The problem is that if you live in a place with great access to legacy banks, you don't need bitcoin as much. The people in Switzerland have probably the very best access to banking on this planet, so few there have any reason to use BTC.
El Salvador, on the other hand, has 70% of their population without access to a bank account. Let that sink in.
You are right. This from someone coming from a country like Nigeria that the percent of those enjoying the goodies the country has to offer is far far lower than those its resources are not getting to.
Good post 😘
I had built a lighting wallet and make it the most user friendly to make more people to step in the space. This is important for Bitcoin adoption.
I think that Swiss people don't understand banking and the money. Smallest banks were established by Swiss and they've poorest economy in the World, everyone knows that.
Thus, they are transfering to Bitcoin.
I always like to hear how different countries are starting to accept the fact that this thing isn't going away and its becoming part of their local financial markets, and how this will affect countries going forward.
Like the ones that were hostile to it, versus the ones that accept it, who ends up driving the most adoption? Does positive incentives work better or negative incentives?
switzerland is synonymous of neutrality.. bitcoin is neutrality.. sounds good..