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

[thewayne]

IIRC, I took over $500US in Euros, and some $300 in Czech Crowns with us.  Had no problems with cash transactions.  But that was in '15.  While Czechia is part of the EU, they decided to keep their currency independent so they could float the value if they needed to, and they seem to have kept their economy strong.  When Greece joined and suddenly revealed that they had a shitload of sovereign debt, the Czech economy was largely unaffected because they weren't based on the Euro.

[disneydream06]

Well, weren't they the smarty pants of Europe. :p

[thewayne]

Yep!  BTW, I had no problem getting Crowns and Euros out of my local bank.  I talked to them and they said I just needed to order the currency in advance - paying for it too, obviously - and it was delivered to the bank, I just had to pick it up!  VERY convenient.