While there has been a lot of talk about El Salvador since that country adopted Bitcoin as its legal tender, Switzerland is also among the most crypto-friendly nations in the world. Not only have Swiss banks recently offered cryptocurrency derivatives to their clients, but now Bitcoin could even be enshrined in the Swiss country’s constitution.
Will the Swiss vote to adopt Bitcoin?
Switzerland has long been a breeding ground for cryptocurrencies, especially in the canton of Zug, where the famous “Crypto Valley” is located, a major development hub for various blockchain projects.
The think tank called 2B4CH, established in 2017, is a non-profit association that aims to help the Swiss state and businesses explore the full potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
On its Twitter account, the 2B4CH group published its wish to propose a vote about Bitcoin. Specifically, the initiative would make the king of cryptos one of the country’s reserve assets.
“We plan to launch a federal popular vote. Will we be able to reach the 100,000 Swiss nationals in favor of Bitcoin? (…) “
Indeed, in order for the proposal to be put to a vote, it must first gain the support of 100,000 Swiss citizens, which is therefore the first goal of the 2B4CH group.
A willingness to debate the potential benefits of Bitcoin
Although the initiators of the proposal themselves admit that it will be difficult to get this law passed to integrate Bitcoin more intimately into the Swiss economy, they explain their steps by the ambition to be able to “open a public discussion and an open debate” on the subject.
The idea of 2B4CH would ultimately be to propose adding Bitcoin as a monetary reserve asset of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), in addition to gold:
“(…) in Article 99, paragraph 3, of the Federal Constitution (…) the SNB is mandated to hold gold as a monetary reserve asset, and the vote is simply to add the words “and Bitcoin (BTC)”. Again, we expect most people to vote “no” to something they don’t understand, the point is to open up the debate.”
If the unthinkable were to happen, the SNB would be the second central bank, after El Salvador’s, to acquire Bitcoin on behalf of the national treasury. In any case, Bitcoin will increasingly be seen as a store of value comparable to gold.
