Canton of Ticino says yes to payments to the state in Bitcoin

With the support of UDC, Lega dei Ticinesi, FDP and some PPD members, the Grand Council approved the 2017 motion on cryptocurrencies by Paolo Pamini

The Republic and Canton of Ticino has moved towards the concrete possibility of allowing its citizens and residents to pay for state services in Bitcoin.

Nicola Zanni: “In Zug, if you want to and work hard, you get it all.”

With the support of UDC, Lega dei Ticinesi, Radical Liberal Party and some members of the PPD, the Grand Council in fact agreed on Monday, April 13 to give the green light to the content of the pilot project presented through motion 1263 of October 16, 2017.

48 to 36 the monetary derby between for and against

48 deputies voted in favor, 36 against, while three abstained.
The economist Paolo Pamini, who had presented the proposal at the time together with his parliamentary colleagues Boris Bignasca, Marcello Censi and Marco Passali, immediately expressed his joy on Facebook:

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“A nice message of support and confidence to Ticino’s fintech! Thanks to Natalia Ferrara for her commitment as a favorable rapporteur, but also to Ivo Durisch who, as a rapporteur against the project, allowed to debate in the courtroom for two and a half hours the criticism of the left and the Greens,” said the Ticino professor, for over a dozen years Lecturer in Law and Finance and Swiss Tax Law at the ETH Zurich, while acknowledging that cryptocurrency transactions could still be few.

Balanced majority and minority relations

During the debate, some of the suggested risks were downplayed, including the exchange rate risk evoked in the government message: for the majority, the state should mandate a third-party intermediary company, so as to cash in Swiss francs and not cryptocurrency.

From Switzerland the suggestive proposal for a “digital euro”.

On the other hand, the minority argued that Ticino should not promote virtual currencies because of the danger of evasion linked to it, the lack of transparency on the beneficiaries and the large amount of energy they require.
With this decision, Switzerland’s only Italian-speaking canton also adopted a procedure similar to the one already in force in Chiasso as well as in Zug, both State and city.

Rapporto di maggioranza sulla mozione 1263 del 16 ottobre 2017 (in Italian)
Rapporto di minoranza sulla mozione 1263 del 16 ottobre 2017 (in Italian)