Verso



Offline



Activity: 21

Merit: 0







NewbieActivity: 21Merit: 0 Swiss national councillor to ban Bitcoins September 18, 2013, 06:32:39 PM #1



As a Swiss citizen, I'm sad to report here that a socialist national councillor, Mr Jean-Christophe Schwab, filed a motion to ban Bitcoins in Switzerland. In particular, he argues that Bitcoins are mainly used for criminal transactions, that we should not allow anonymous currencies and that the central bank should not have competitors -- the usual anti-Bitcoin arguments, I guess. It is hard to say whether this motion has any chance to be approved, but this councillor is known to fight a lot for his ideas.



See by yourself:



I already contacted several other national councillors that I know personally in order to give them solid arguments against this motion, but that would really help if the community and/or the Bitcoin Foundation could take part in the process before it's too late.



Thank you all in advance. Hello,As a Swiss citizen, I'm sad to report here that a socialist national councillor, Mr Jean-Christophe Schwab, filed a motion to ban Bitcoins in Switzerland. In particular, he argues that Bitcoins are mainly used for criminal transactions, that we should not allow anonymous currencies and that the central bank should not have competitors -- the usual anti-Bitcoin arguments, I guess. It is hard to say whether this motion has any chance to be approved, but this councillor is known to fight a lot for his ideas.See by yourself: http://www.entete.ch/sk_lmd.pdf I already contacted several other national councillors that I know personally in order to give them solid arguments against this motion, but that would really help if the community and/or the Bitcoin Foundation could take part in the process before it's too late.Thank you all in advance.

Cryptoman



Offline



Activity: 726

Merit: 500









Hero MemberActivity: 726Merit: 500 Re: Swiss national councillor to ban Bitcoins September 18, 2013, 07:21:28 PM #4 Silly council members think they can solve all the world's problems with legislation. Once you have in place the basic laws against force, fraud and theft, it's all downhill from there.



Let them try to legislate away the laws of prime numbers. "A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." --Gandhi

prophetx



Offline



Activity: 1624

Merit: 1002





he who has the gold makes the rules







LegendaryActivity: 1624Merit: 1002he who has the gold makes the rules Re: Swiss national councillor to ban Bitcoins September 18, 2013, 07:35:50 PM #5 Quote from: Verso on September 18, 2013, 06:32:39 PM



As a Swiss citizen, I'm sad to report here that a socialist national councillor, Mr Jean-Christophe Schwab, filed a motion to ban Bitcoins in Switzerland. In particular, he argues that Bitcoins are mainly used for criminal transactions, that we should not allow anonymous currencies and that the central bank should not have competitors -- the usual anti-Bitcoin arguments, I guess. It is hard to say whether this motion has any chance to be approved, but this councillor is known to fight a lot for his ideas.



See by yourself:



I already contacted several other national councillors that I know personally in order to give them solid arguments against this motion, but that would really help if the community and/or the Bitcoin Foundation could take part in the process before it's too late.



Thank you all in advance.

Hello,As a Swiss citizen, I'm sad to report here that a socialist national councillor, Mr Jean-Christophe Schwab, filed a motion to ban Bitcoins in Switzerland. In particular, he argues that Bitcoins are mainly used for criminal transactions, that we should not allow anonymous currencies and that the central bank should not have competitors -- the usual anti-Bitcoin arguments, I guess. It is hard to say whether this motion has any chance to be approved, but this councillor is known to fight a lot for his ideas.See by yourself: http://www.entete.ch/sk_lmd.pdf I already contacted several other national councillors that I know personally in order to give them solid arguments against this motion, but that would really help if the community and/or the Bitcoin Foundation could take part in the process before it's too late.Thank you all in advance.

lmao the old home of anonymous banking trying to ban anonymous currency, that would be the day...



what exactly is his plan to stop it? take away everyone's computers, cut off switzerland from the internet?



I sent a note to the lawyer at btc foundation, perhaps they have some contacts lmao the old home of anonymous banking trying to ban anonymous currency, that would be the day...what exactly is his plan to stop it? take away everyone's computers, cut off switzerland from the internet?I sent a note to the lawyer at btc foundation, perhaps they have some contacts

Mike Hearn



Offline



Activity: 1526

Merit: 1008







LegendaryActivity: 1526Merit: 1008 Re: Swiss national councillor to ban Bitcoins September 18, 2013, 07:55:05 PM #6 When you say "filed a motion", what does that mean? New legislation at the federal level? That would be quite remarkable if true. I suppose, politicians from all cantons would be able to vote on that, no?



I think the real motivation here is obviously ideological. He says he is "opposed to the privatisation of money creation, which must be controlled by the state". He provides no rationale for why it must be so. It's just something he believes.



Unfortunately the fractured language situation in Switzerland will make co-ordination somewhat complicated ... there are plenty of people coming to the meetups in Zurich and I'm sure lots of people could be co-ordinated together to make protests, but I have no experience of political campaigning here (I live in Zurich). I'm not even a citizen so doubt they would care much anyway.



Re: his plan. The article says "that would obviously be practically complicated, but we could ban holding of bitcoins or making transactions in them". In other words random punishment whenever they find someone and hope everyone else falls into line.

_mr_e



Offline



Activity: 817

Merit: 1000









LegendaryActivity: 817Merit: 1000 Re: Swiss national councillor to ban Bitcoins September 19, 2013, 12:40:22 AM #15 Quote from: Mike Hearn on September 18, 2013, 07:55:05 PM

Re: his plan. The article says "that would obviously be practically complicated, but we could ban holding of bitcoins or making transactions in them". In other words random punishment whenever they find someone and hope everyone else falls into line.



Haha, the best part about this is that nobody actually "holds" any Bitcoins. And I don't mean physically either. All you hold is a simple set of numbers and letters that give you the ability to move some numbers around on a global ledger. He is effectively banning strings of characters. I say more power to him, this would be an amusing experiment. Haha, the best part about this is that nobody actually "holds" any Bitcoins. And I don't mean physically either. All you hold is a simple set of numbers and letters that give you the ability to move some numbers around on a global ledger. He is effectively banning strings of characters. I say more power to him, this would be an amusing experiment.