25th April 2024 > > Switzerland & the US.

tl;dr

BTC could transform the way central banks operate. Blockchain technology could transform the way governments work.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

lackRock’s spot BTC ETF saw zero inflows yesterday for the first time, causing a knock to BTC’s price.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Go Switzerland!

2B4CH, a not-for-profit organisation in Switzerland, has launched a campaign which it hopes will end with a referendum posing the question as to whether the Swiss central bank, SBN, should add BTC to its balance sheet or not.

Switzerland’s democratic settlement is, as far as I am aware, relatively unique in the world. Referenda are frequent, the results of which are taken seriously and implemented in line with the wishes of the population. To get to the stage of forcing a referendum on the government, 100,000 individuals must advocate in favour within 18 months. That is slightly more than 1% of the total population. In 2023, a survey – whose accuracy I cannot vouch for – claimed that 21% of Swiss residents owned or used cryptos. If that is true, that 1% target looks very doable to me.

President of Bitcoin Suisse, Luzius Meisser, explains why he is a supporter of this initiative:

"By including Bitcoin in its reserves, Switzerland would mark its independence from the European Central Bank. Such a step would strengthen our neutrality."

Do not underestimate how deeply that concept of neutrality is cherished by the Swiss.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign undoubtedly benefits from a high degree of name recognition. Some polls put him on 13%, suggesting that though he has virtually zero chance of becoming President, he could well have a significant influence on the final outcome.

Some of his opinions have been denounced as being racist, in particular his claim that Covid was targeted at some ethnic groups and not others. His prominent anti-vax stance attracts support for reasons that we do not need to discuss here.

What is interesting is his proposal to put the entire U.S. government’s budget on the blockchain, an idea already put forward by failed Congressional candidate for Utah, January Walker, of the United Utah Party.

Clearly this concept is stuck on the political fringes, far from the actual levers of power, at least for now.

The U.S. government’s predicted spending for 2024 is $6.4 TRILLION, of which $1.5 TRILLION will simply be added to that pile of unpayable debt of close to $30 TRILLION. That debt pile does not include multiples more in off-balance commitments that will have to be paid in the future.

I am far from convinced that the U.S. government is particularly efficient or productive in its spending of taxpayers’ cash. Officials there may disagree with me, but if they want to prove that they provide value for money, then what is the counterargument against making government spending transparent to us all?