Switzerland Archives

Deloitte launched ATM in September:

On Wednesday, September 7^th this year, ‘Big Four’ accounting firm Deloitte has opened its first operational bitcoin ATM. The opening was quiet and took place in the downtown Toronto offices of Deloitte’s Rubix blockchain division. The bitcoin transaction machine, or BTM, is now all set to exchange digital currency for Canadian dollars. The move was intends to make Deloitte employees well acquainted with Bitcoin and Blockchain. Owing to the firm’s interest and belief in the cryptocurrency and its underlying technology, Deloitte has taken the first step towards it by this move.

EY joins the band wagon:

In a surprising move that will completely boost adoption, EY announced that their Swiss firm will soon begin accepting bitcoin. The firm also installed a Bitcoin ATM (BTM) in their main office building, next to the Hardbrücke train station in Zurich. The BTM is publicly accessible to exchange Swiss Francs for Bitcoins. The firm also gave away bitcoin wallets to all of their employees. The effort is in the direction of completely ‘digitizing’ their operations to suit the pace of the changing world.

Marcel Stalder, CEO of EY Switzerland said –

“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.”

The impact on adoption:

Switzerland has a very amicable environment for the growth of cryptocurrency. With a well-developed bank and technological infrastructure, going cashless can definitely be the next objective for Swiss folk. KPMG has recently remarked about the same in their report “Shaping Switzerland’s digital future”. For Bitcoin, this would be a very impactful move as this would accelerate mainstream adoption. With auditing firms accepting the currency, the solution to the problem of auditing Bitcoin related transactions would become apparent.

If you are heading out to Europe, Switzerland to be precise, you can expect to have another opportunity to buy and sell Bitcoin. Breaking news suggests that Switzerland’ railway firm, SBB will start using its ticket machines to sell Bitcoin. Bitcoin is steadily building up momentum as an alternative currency that can take the place of fiat currency. Bitcoin’s appeal as an alternative currency lies in the fact that is a decentralized cryptocurrency free from the influence of central banks. Central bankers tend to print money out of thin air and the current globally monetary system is a hoax at best.

Switzerland national railway firm to start selling Bitcoin

Starting from November 11, customers of Switzerland’s national railway line, SBB can expect the launch of a new service to buy and sell Bitcoin. On Oct.28, SBB announced that it would commence a two-year pilot program in which it would see how well Swiss people have embraced the use of Bitcoin. Under the pilot program, you can easily trade in your Swiss francs for Bitcoin at the prevailing market rate.

It should be noted though that the SBB doesn’t yet accept Bitcoin as payment for tickets. Rather, the SBB wants to leverage is nationwide coverage to provide people with easier access to the cryptocurrency. In a statement, the SBB maintains that “There have been few possibilities to obtain bitcoins in Switzerland until now…With its 1,000-plus ticket machines, SBB operates a dense, around-the-clock distribution network that’s suited for more than just ticket sales.”

SBB also revealed that it would be working with digital payments company, SweePay to provide a physical location for people to top up their Bitcoin wallets. If you want to buy Bitcoin with Swiss Francs on any of the SBB ticket machines, you’ll need to have a Bitcoin wallet and you also need to Swiss mobile phone. If you have the wallet and a phone, you can start buying up Bitcoin and you can buy between 20 Francs and 500 Francs of Bitcoin in each transaction.

Here’s why SBB wants to become a Bitcoin distributor

Interestingly, the inherent features of Bitcoin makes it easy for the cryptocurrency to serve as a better alternative to fiat currencies. To start with, Bitcoin has very negligible transaction costs that provides both buyers and sellers with savings that would have normally gone to third-party payment processors. The SBB’s decision to start a Bitcoin service stems from it’s a strong suspicion that Bitcoin could emerge as a major global currency.

Secondly, Bitcoin provides freedom and easy of transaction and it could easily serve as a means to bring the ‘unbanked’ or ‘underbanked’ into the financial markets. It is quite easy to set up a Bitcoin wallet and you often do not need to go through the circuitous process that banks require before they can open a bank account for you. More so, Bitcoin is also free from the interference of the government and its agents; hence, people don’t have to worry that an intermediary ill freeze their account, place a limit on their transactions, or even seize their funds.

Tag: Switzerland

‘Big 4’ step up the Bitcoin game, EY accepts Bitcoin in Switzerland