Swiss Government Requests Study on State-Backed Digital Currency
The Federal Council of the Government of Switzerland has asked for a give an account of the dangers and chances of developing its own state-backed virtual currency, or purported "e-franc", Reuters reported May 17.
The Federal Council moved to examine the subject at the request of Swiss lawmaker and VP of the Social Democratic Party, Cedric Wermuth. Presently, the lower house of the Swiss parliament needs to choose whether to support the Federal Council's request for research. Should the proposition be affirmed, the Swiss Finance Ministry will lead an investigation regarding the matter. No time period has been chosen in regards to the procedure. The Council expressed:
"The Federal Council knows about the significant difficulties, both financial and legal related, which would be accompanied by the utilization of an e-franc… It asks that the proposition be received to inspect the opportunities and risks of an e-franc and to make clarifications of the economic, monetary and legal parts of the e-franc."
The plan to build up a national cryotocurrency was moved in February by Romeo Lacher, director of the Swiss stock exchange SIX. He stated, "An e-franc under the control of the national bank would make a considerable measure of cooperative energies - so it would be useful for the economy."
Other conventional financial establishments in the country have been doubtful about the introduction of cryptocurrrency. Board Member of the Swiss National Bank Andréa Maechler said a month ago, that private-division digital currencies are preferred and less risky over state backed digital currency, as a state backed cryptocurrrency could expand the danger of supposed "bank runs."
Earlier this month, Switzerland's biggest bank UBS declined to offer trading in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrrencies. The bank's chairman Axel Weber called for stricter controls on cryptocurrencies, expressing "[cryptocurrencies] are transparent and, thus, open to being abused."
Different countries have likewise started thinking about a national digital currency. Sweden's Riksbank is exploring whether they should issue an e-krona, as the utilization of physical banknotes in the nation keep on declining.
Sources
https://cointelegraph.com/news/swiss-stock-exchange-chairman-sees-upsides-to-launch-of-crypto-franc
https://cointelegraph.com/news/swiss-government-requests-study-on-state-backed-digital-currency