Earlier in the week Switzerland’s stock exchange chairman, Romeo Lacher, pledged his support and spoke in favor of developing a Swiss national cryptocurrency. He also further indicated that the proposed “e-franc” would provide a massive boost for the Swiss economy, and it will also provide an added benefit of introducing an innovative new payment system which would offer quite some benefits over the traditional systems.
The head of Switzerland’s stock exchange, Mr. Romeo Lacher supported the development of a Swiss national cryptocurrency which will be funded by Switzerland’s central bank.
Mr. Lacher said he has high hopes saying “there would be a lot of upsides” to developing a state-administered cryptocurrency, also further adding that the stock exchange “would strongly support the initiative” and would provide their full support.
Mr. Lacher also said, “I don’t like cash.” He also stated his opinion that a national cryptocurrency would be really beneficial for the economy and added “An e-franc under the control of the central bank would create a lot of synergies”
Swiss Central Bank has contrary opinions
The chairman of the stock exchange is a firm believer that the development of presumably national cryptocurrency would be an excellent opportunity for Switzerland to become front-runners in the race for becoming a leader in virtual currency innovation and adoption.
However, In response to Mr. Lacher’s comments, the Swiss National Bank issued quite a contrary statement by stating that the bank doesn’t see “any need” for developing a national cryptocurrency, also further adding that the already per-existing cashless and cash-based payment systems are doing just fine. Although Mr. Lacher seemed to be quite hyped up regarding the idea of a state-administered cryptocurrency, the chairman made it crystal clear that the stock exchange nor its owners, SIX Group, will entertain trading in cryptocurrency tokens. He further stated “We have no actual plans to indulge in trading of cryptocurrencies or ICOs. But we see a lot of advantages for blockchain across our businesses,”
Mr. Lacher also had a positive opinion regarding the Swiss government’s policies, which are specifically tailor-made to position the nation as a global leader in distributed ledger technology, however, also addressing the risks involved with being a pioneering adopter of a disruptive phenomenon.
“I think the strategic direction is decent enough, but it’s like going into the fog,” Mr. Lacher said. “You never know what is waiting on the other side. Many mistakes will be made, but we will address them as a learning curve and take lessons from it I am sure, we will be successful.”
Just in the previous month, Johann Schneider-Ammann, The Swiss Economics Minister expressed his opinion that Switzerland should strive to “become the crypto-nation” during a speech at the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz. During the conference, Mr. Schneider-Ammann also further addressed the global phenomenon by describing the virtual currencies as comprising “part of the fourth industrial revolution,” however he was also quick to add that “It is too early” to actually determine whether cryptocurrencies do in fact need a regulatory oversight.