The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, FINMA, is currently considering limiting cryptocurrency anonymous transfers per person to 1,000 Swiss francs ($1,024) per month.
FINMA is the Swiss government agency in charge of financial regulation in Switzerland, including the supervision of banks, stock exchanges and securities dealers, insurance companies, and other financial intermediaries.
Switzerland is one of the top countries in terms of the number of crypto ATMs per capita; the country currently has 143 ATMs, which its citizens use to buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
However, the amount of cryptocurrency in which Switzerland citizens can anonymously transfer to make a payment or withdraw will be limited soon as the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority has begun making moves to change one of its cryptocurrency regulations to limit anonymous payment limit to 1000 francs per month.
In contrast to anonymous cash transfers, anyone can anonymously pay up to 15,000 francs per month as cryptocurrency is increasingly being incorporated into illegal businesses, especially drug trafficking.
According to Spokesman Tobias Lux, the plan to amend the ordinance was prompted by articles on drug trafficking published on the Internet by Swiss media. The most notable is a three-part report on social media drug trafficking (drug ring business model) published on April 1 by 20 minutes, a free daily newspaper, on how easy it is to order drugs on Instagram and pay conveniently with cryptocurrencies. Payment is sometimes made using a Crypto ATM.
As a result, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority is revising its regulations to prevent illegal transactions, especially drug trafficking using cryptocurrency.
Although no final decision on the adjustment has been made, as emphasized by Lux, interested parties will be consulted by May 10, 2022, to make a final decision. Many have criticized FINMA’s plan to limit Crypto ATM anonymous withdrawal and payments, claiming that cryptocurrencies would be significantly disadvantaged compared to cash because the limit on anonymous cash transfer is much higher than the proposed crypto payment or withdrawal limit.
