A recent survey conducted by Migros Bank in Switzerland has turned up some interesting results and offers some insight into the ongoing debate over crypto versus gold.
- Gold has held its value for over 2000 years and is regarded as the ultimate asset for wealth preservation. However during times of crisis governments have been known to confiscate gold from its citizens. USA, Germany, Australia, Great Britain, to name just a few. And if it can happen there it can happen anywhere. Or can it?
- Switzerland is the country with the largest offshore wealth holding in the world, at $2.3 trillion. Switzerland has a long history of political stability, neutrality, and offers possibly the only direct democracy system in the world. Switzerland has for a long time prided itself on offering a secure and discrete destination for offshore wealth, and actively caters to this demand.
- Switzerland recognises the need for offshore wealth to be held in Switzerland in a manner that ensures the assets remain fully the possession of the owner. To this end the Swiss laws on bailment defined in Article 472 of the Swiss Code of Obligations permit custody of assets to be handed over to a regulated Swiss financial intermediary like VAULTALP, whilst all the time the owner retains full title to the property.
- The Swiss have a very liberal attitude to holding money outside of the banking system. While the EU phased out the 500 EUR note, claiming it was being used by criminals as an excuse, pressure then turned on Switzerland with regards to banning the 1,000 CHF note, the most valuable note in the world. A spokesman at the SNB said ‘the bank believed that the size of a banknote had no impact on efforts to combat crime.’ That’s the EU told! In addition, there are no restrictions on the amount of currency you can bring in or out of Switzerland.
- Switzerland is the ideal country to buy and store gold. Four of the biggest refineries are based in Switzerland, and between them they refine about 70% of the world’s gold. This enables us to buy right from the source. In addition, being such a mountainous nation, the landscape naturally lends itself to constructing deep mountain vaults. Many of these vaults are ex-military, and as such provide absolute security for our client’s assets.