(Source) The dome of the Swiss Federal Palace with the coats of arms of the cantons.
Fynn Kreuz is the CEO of the Swiss Bitcoin company, Numbrs.
Independence
In 1291, three regions of the Holy Roman Empire seceded and swore an oath that founded the Swiss Confederacy. This movement, born out of a longing for freedom and independence, began when the mythical national hero, William Tell, challenged a tyrannical bailiff called Albrecht Gessler.
Over 700 years later, Bitcoin was created to secede from the existing financial and monetary order. In its struggle for freedom and independence, Bitcoin fights traditional finance, dishonest narratives and the regulatory overreach of agencies such as the SEC, run by Gary Gensler. It is said that history does not repeat itself, but often rhymes. In this case, ironically, Gessler and Gensler literally rhyme.
Bitcoin and Switzerland share a fundamental philosophy relating to freedom and independence. We at Numbrs, believe Bitcoin is the world’s best safe-haven store of value and Switzerland will become the logical destination to store one’s precious private keys. Rooted in its long tradition of safety, stability and privacy, Switzerland will transform its financial landscape, as a result of Bitcoin, and we will be at the forefront of this inevitable development.
Tradition
Ever since its creation, Switzerland has molded its system on the founding principles of freedom and independence. A deeply ingrained distrust of centralized power has given it a unique political system based on a loose union of states, or cantons, which all retain their own parliaments, governments and courts. This loose union is bound together by a weak central core, or federal government, that enacts decisions made in a system of national referenda. The general population remains the ultimate arbiter of political power and guardian of the rule of law. This decentralized governance system has made it one of the safest, most stable and wealthiest countries in the history of the world as well as the world’s premier safe-haven destination for the accumulation of wealth. A large portion of the world’s art, gold and precious stones are stored in the world’s most secure vaults in Switzerland.
Switzerland also has a long tradition of financial privacy. In the early 18th century, European Catholic monarchs gave their money to Swiss Protestant bankers to manage and neither side wanted it to be known they were dealing with each other. The Great Council of Geneva thereby began a tradition of banking secrecy, which would be enshrined in Swiss law in 1934. Subsequent attempts by governments around the world to confiscate assets and impose exorbitant taxes led an increasing amount of capital to Switzerland. The prestige of the Swiss financial system has outlived political crises, world wars and economic catastrophes.
Revolution
Today, banking secrecy in traditional finance is all but dead, but Bitcoin has established a new and superior pseudonymous transaction system. Through cryptography, Bitcoin has allowed for the creation, transfer and storage of economic value on the digital sphere. It is run on a decentralized, borderless protocol maintained by a global network of computers owned by no single person, government or legal entity. Its supply is unalterable and is on a known issuance schedule, maxing out at 21 million bitcoin.
It is vastly superior to cash, as no government has the power to debase bitcoin by producing more of it. It is also superior to gold and other precious metals, as its supply is predictable, the schedule of supply issuance is fixed and unalterable. Beyond its fixed supply, Bitcoin’s technical attributes make it far safer, more practical and discreet than traditional stores of value. Enormous economic value can be easily divided and transferred across the planet cheaply, securely and instantaneously in Bitcoin. The only infrastructure required for the system to run is the internet.
Beyond practicality, Bitcoin is breaking the traditional financial order by giving its users unadulterated ownership over their economic assets. There is no bank or financial intermediary which people have to trust to manage their livelihood. With a non-custodial wallet and private keys, each user acts as their own bank. This feature of Bitcoin, among others, is revolutionary. You no longer have to trust banks and you no longer have to worry about governments enforcing financial censorship, confiscation or other draconian policies through banks.
Bitcoin’s hard cap, technical attributes and private-key ownership make it the world’s best safe-haven store of value. This financial revolution allowed the Bitcoin network to settle over $13 trillion of transactions in 2021 and brought its market cap to over $1 trillion. We believe this is just the beginning and increasing global instability and economic mismanagement will lead to growing grassroots adoption and increased momentum for Bitcoin. Society will eventually reach a tipping point and fiat will be entirely discredited as a means of exchange. Bitcoin will become the only logical and viable alternative. An increasing number of nations will accept it as legal tender and make it the basis of a new monetary order.
Future
In order to fully benefit from this financial revolution, users must store their bitcoin in non-custodial wallets that give them full control over their private keys. Recent events around the world have shown how governments can easily use banks and centralized exchanges to expropriate users of their wealth. Bitcoin, through the use of private keys, puts people’s wealth outside of this overreach. The ownership and storage of private keys is thus of primordial importance to preserve one’s livelihood.
It is for this reason that Switzerland is the logical place to develop the safest solution to store bitcoin. With a long tradition of safety and financial discretion, a Swiss non-custodial wallet, backed up by military encryption in the heart of the Swiss Alps, is the only way that one’s bitcoin will be fully protected and conveniently accessible.
In order for Switzerland to remain at the forefront of finance, it will have to adapt and continue its long tradition of financial security and excellence. We are delighted to see that the legal framework is at the cutting edge of the needs of a new digital monetary system and we will continue to strive to take a leading role in the industry.
This is a guest post by Fynn Kreuz. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.