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100000 CHF

Hardcap Goal

65422.19 CHF

Raised
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65%

Of Goal
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152

Contributors

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The Campaign is Closed


Sadly, Bity.com cancelled the case just before the judge was about to settle the case. The company did not provide any public explanation until now.

The case will soon be reopened. Sadly because of Bity decision we lost 2 precious years.

Thanks again for your support, this was not in vain. We will use all the material here for the new case.

BTC/XMR
CHF 41'500
ETH
CHF 16'000
FIAT
CHF 6'000
Total Received
CHF 65'500

FINMA is not fighting in an obvious way like the SEC in the US but in a more insidious way. FINMA is using all its soft power to change the spirit of the Law in a non democratic way. This has to stop!

Watch the conference (in French)


TL;DR

Bity SA has started a two legal complaints against FINMA:

  • CASE 1: to challenge the reduced limits of 1000 CHF per MONTH for buying Bitcoin without KYC, while the law allows 5000 CHF per transaction for fiat cash.
  • CASE 2: to challenge the special implementation of the travel rule by FINMA and the SROs.

These procedures will benefit the whole crypto community.

We are asking for financial donation to support these procedures that will last for several years. We need your help!



Update

  • LATEST 2024-05-03 [CASE 2] Bity files complaint against FINMA decision of non-competence on Travel Rule
  • 2024-04-03 [CASE 2] FINMA does not suspend and issues a decision of non-competence on Travel Rule
  • 2024-03-20 [CASE 1] Tribunal decision shared last Bity answer to FINMA.
  • 2024-03-04 [CASE 2] Letter from FINMA to Bity requesting comments before suspending decision in CASE 2
  • 2024-02-23 [CASE 2] Letter from Bity to FINMA giving deadline march 4 for decision before bringing CASE 2 in front of Tribunal
  • 2024-02-20 [CASE 1] FINMA answer to Tribunal still stating incompetence in CASE 1
  • 2024-02-22 [CASE 2] Letter from FINMA asking us to refer to CASE 1, but not giving a decision
  • 2024-02-19 [CASE 2] Email from FINMA asking for some extra patience on the answer
  • 2024-02-16 [CASE 2] Email from Bity to FINMA inquiring on the state of the answer after 5 months
  • 2024-01-12 [CASE 2] FINMA has sent an email to Bity to inform that the response is still in preparation at FINMA
  • 2024-01-08 [CASE 1] FINMA has filed a request for an extra delay. The judge set the new delay to February 21. Tribunal decision.
  • 2023-12-07 [CASE 1] The tribunal has set the deadline to 22nd January 2024 to answer on our request.
  • 2023-11-23 [CASE 1] Tribunal has closed the Denial of Justice case and opened the case against the decision of FINMA
  • 2023-11-10 [CASE 1] Bity has filed a new complaint against the FINMA decision of non-competence
  • 2023-11-05 [CASE 1] Bity has answered FINMAs request to close the case by requesting the merging of the cases.
  • 2023-10-23 [CASE 1] FINMA has answered the Tribunal to close the denial of justice case.
  • 2023-10-09 [CASE 1] FINMA has issued a decision of non-competence to Bity SA. Decision.
  • 2023-09-14 [CASE 2] Bity has as sent a request to FINMA if Communication 2019/2 applies. Letter.
  • 2023-09-08 [CASE 1] FINMA has filed a request for an extra delay. The judge set the new delay to October 13. Tribunal decision.
  • 2023-08-07 [CASE 1] FINMA was given until September 14 to provide its initial answer. Tribunal decision.
  • 2023-07-31 We have reached 20K CHF in 2 days! thanks to all our supporters. This is covering the start. We are moving the goal to 50K in order cover the next phases of the case.

In the News

What is the context?

If Switzerland has been welcoming to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the last years, FINMA has constantly attacked the financial liberties around Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

  1. FINMA started considering ALL crypto transactions as high risk, because it COULD help money laundering without providing any proof. High-risk transactions require more oversight and effort as they are typically considered exceptions. The industry is forced to treat every client as high risk, which results in greater compliance requirements compared to traditional actors. While we are willing to adhere to the same rules as the rest of the financial industry, we don't believe that using exception rules as a standard is appropriate. This a burden for all our clients, forcing them to disclose excessive amounts of information.
  2. FINMA started to force the industry to use technical measures (proof of control), introducing complexity that undermines the user-friendly nature of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Once again, this compels our clients to adopt significantly more complex methods to interact with their own cryptocurrencies.
  3.  FINMA has imposed a 1000 CHF limit for crypto transactions, while the legal limit for cash transactions remains at 5000 CHF. They followed a FATF guidelines that has no democratic authority in Switzerland.
  4. Even before the 1000 CHF limit had any effect NOW FINMA changed that limit into 1000 CHF PER MONTH.

In order to make the last change, FINMA did not even bother doing an ordinance. They sent a simple email using an article of the Blick as reference. After this email, the industry did protest, so FINMA had to do a proper ordinance.

in March 2022, FINMA opened a consultation process for the Revision of the AML FINMA ordinance (https://www.finma.ch/en/documentation/archiv/completed-consultations/2022/)

There was no single contribution in favor of FINMA position. But still FINMA decides to implement a change that removes in reality the ability to perform KYC-less transactions on Bitcoin ATM. The new version also includes an attack on "anonymous payment methods", a concept that FINMA invents, without a LAW.

At the SAME time, the Federal Council did publish a report on 9th of December 2022 stating (about cash) : "(cash) ... protects privacy, and enables the unbanked and those without access to cashless payment methods to participate in the economy (financial inclusion). The widespread disappearance of cash should therefore be avoided, especially while no equivalent cashless alternatives are available."

We believe Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies ARE a possible alternative to cash, but now FINMA tries to make sure this alternative NEVER comes to reality. This shows that FINMA is working AGAINST the political objectives of the Federal Council.

[CASE 1] 1000 CHF per month limit

This ordinance present a number of severe legal issues. We believe that it was taken in violation of several articles of the Financial Market Supervision Act.

Bity.com’s Bitcoin ATM activities are directly affected by this ordinance. We have repeatedly asked FINMA for clarification on whether this ordinance applies to us, despite not being affiliated with FINMA. However, they have refused to respond on three occasions. This represents a serious case of denial of justice by an administrative institution.

FINMA finally release (under pressure of the court case) a Decision of non-competence. FINMA also request the initial case to be closed, as the denial of justice is not anymore existing. This Decision raises few interesting questions as FINMA says it is not competent to say if Bity is subject to article 51.a of the FINMA ordinance. However FINMA did request SRO to include the rule in their regulations.

Bity has filed a new complaint against the Decision of non-competence of FINMA. We have also requested the Tribunal to join the two procedures as even by issuing a decision of non-competence, the denial of justice is still present.

[CASE 2] Travel Rule

Similar to the Case 1, FINMA adopted the FATF rule called "Travel Rule" in the FINMA AML Ordinance. The Travel Rule simply request that the name and address of the recipient of a crypto-currency transaction should be recorded by the financial intermediary. 

However FINMA completely revisited this rule in the Communication 02/2019, in which it states: « A transfer from or to an external wallet belonging to a third party is only possible if, as for a client relationship, the supervised institution has first verified the identity of the third party, established the identity of the beneficial owner and proven the third party’s ownership of the external wallet using suitable technical means. » This interpretation is very different from the original FATF rule as well as the Ordinance.

There are 3 main arguments in the case we've opened against the Travel Rule:

Legality: We argue that the new requirements lack a sufficient legal foundation, violating the principle of legality which mandates that all administrative actions must be based on law. A communication has no more legal force than a simple publication of the website. It is, at most, informative. However SROs have included this wording in their internal regulations, saying that this has been done on request from FINMA. As in [Case 1] we asked FINMA if this communication applies to us.

Economic Freedom: We asserts that the requirements of the Travel Rule unduly restrict our economic activities, thus breaching the constitutional guarantee of economic freedom.

Equality of Treatment: We argue that the implementation of the Travel Rule results in unequal treatment of similar entities, thereby violating constitutional equality guarantees.

All Documents

What can we do, What are we doing?

We are fighting, but we need your help!

We (Bity.com) have now opened a legal claim in front of the Federal Administrative Tribunal, this has already cost 35.000 CHF of legal fees. Additionally, the Tribunal asked for an initial fee of 3.000 CHF.

How can I help?

This procedure will take time and money to keep our best lawyers on the case. The initial case has been prepared by SwissLegal. Please help us support the costs.

  • in Bitcoin/XMR : use the Contribute button on top of this page
  • in ETH, USDC, USDT and other coins donations are possible on 0x184baC2F43326E781131a758984812ecE2BE12B8
  • In CHF/EUR/USD: You can donate in  Fiat on the following IBANs at the Banque Cantonale de Neuchâtel.

Beneficiary: Bity SA - Rue des Usines 44 - 2000 Neuchâtel

  • CHF: CH45 0076 6000 1030 2180 7
  • EUR: CH04 0076 6000 1039 6005 0
  • USD: CH71 0076 6000 1039 4671 9

Please use "FINMA case legal fund donation" as payment reference.

Bank code: 00766
Swift/Bic: BCNNCH22XXX

You can use this QR-Bill


How much do we need?

Our current goal is 100.000 CHF. We will raise the next goal based on the actual legal fees.

Invoices:

  • 2023.07.20 Swisslegal legal fees / CHF 19'984.80
  • 2023.07.24 Federal administrative tribunal upfront fees / CHF 3'000 (2'000 back)
  • 2023.09.30 Swisslegal legal fees / CHF 15'465.20
  • 2023.11.05 Swisslegal legal fees / CHF 16'855.60
  • 2023.11.23 Federal administrative tribunal upfront fees / CHF 3'000
  • 2024.04.21 Swisslegal legal fees / CHF 14'302.55
  • 2024.04.21 Swisslegal legal fees / CHF 954.10

What is NEXT?

We will be sharing updates here and in our telegram channels of the Swiss crypto communities.
You can send us a request at info@bity.com