{"id":336364,"date":"2023-02-07T01:00:36","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T06:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/?p=336364"},"modified":"2023-02-06T11:09:44","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T16:09:44","slug":"swiss-to-vote-on-preventing-cashless-society-pressure-group-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/2023\/02\/swiss-to-vote-on-preventing-cashless-society-pressure-group-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Swiss to vote on preventing cashless society, pressure group says"},"content":{"rendered":"

from Reuters<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Feb 6 (Reuters) – Swiss citizens will get the chance to try to ensure their economy never becomes cashless, a pressure group said, after collecting enough signatures by Monday to trigger a popular vote on the issue.<\/p>\n

The FBS (Free Switzerland Movement) says cash is playing a shrinking role in many economies, as electronic payments become the default for transactions in increasingly digitised societies, making it easier for the state to monitor its citizens’ actions.<\/p>\n

TRUTH LIVES on at\u00a0https:\/\/sgtreport.tv\/<\/a><\/p>\n

It wants a clause added to Switzerland’s currency law, which governs how the central bank and government manage the money supply, stipulating that a “sufficient quantity” of banknotes or coins must always remain in circulation.<\/p>\n

There is no evidence of moves towards a cashless society by Swiss authorities.<\/p>\n

FBS said it had garnered over 111,000 signatures in support of the measure, above the 100,000 needed to trigger a popular vote. Under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, the proposal would become law if approved by voters, though government and parliament would decide how that law was implemented.<\/p>\n

“It is clear that … getting rid of cash not only touches on issues of transparency, simplicity or security … but also carries a huge danger of totalitarian surveillance,” FBS president Richard Koller said on the group’s website.<\/p>\n

He also views Switzerland as a European standard-bearer for the defence of cash, as pushing through such guarantees in the European Union would entail the “almost impossible” process of securing approval from all 27 member states.<\/p>\n

Accelerated by the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns, the trend towards increased cashless payments was evident as far back as 2017, when an Ipsos study found more than a third of Europeans and Americans would happily go without cash and 20% pretty much did so already.<\/p>\n

Read More @ Reuters.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from Reuters: Feb 6 (Reuters) – Swiss citizens will get the chance to try to ensure their economy never becomes cashless, a pressure group said, after collecting enough signatures by Monday to trigger a popular vote on the issue. The FBS (Free Switzerland Movement) says cash is playing a shrinking role in many economies, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[147961,147960],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336364"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}