Switzerland amends constitution to enshrine the right to cash transactions

[thewayne]

In their recent national elections, Swiss voters, by a resounding 73.4% rate, approved a measure to guarantee that people would be able to continue to make cash transactions into the future. The rate of such transactions dropped greatly with the Covid pandemic: only 30% of shop transactions were cash-based in 2024.

There are concerns that governments can trace your financial history, and if they disapprove, shut it down. Famously, Canada shut down the banking of some protesters in 2022 of the Freedom Convoy (it was later restored). There's also the difficulty of giving money to the people who are unbankable or unhoused, whether temporary or long-term.

Switzerland joins Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia in the guaranteed cash market, Austria is considering a similar proposition.

https://www.politico.eu/article/switzerland-cash-right-constitution-vote/

Comments

[kaishin108]

That is such wise decisions by those countries. The last time I was in the Netherlands, no one would take my Euros, they all wanted credit cards. It was awkward as my credit card was the wrong one!

[thewayne]

That's interesting!  I made sure my Capital One was good in Europe before we went ten years ago, I'll probably make sure I have a second one before we go again.

[kaishin108]

I have a Capital One MC but it seemed like everywhere I went they wanted a Visa. My debit card is Visa but they wanted a Visa Credit card. It was odd.

[thewayne]

Huh.  We were exclusively in Germany and Czechia, no problems with cash.  Didn't really start using my credit card until we were back in Germany, and had no problems with it being an MC.  Odd.  Both of my Chase cards are Visas, I think I can get one that has no foreign fees, but it has an annual fee, so I'd get it temporarily for a trip and then cancel it if I needed one.

[kaishin108]

I'm not sure what the problem was with my card. It was just so odd.