Bitcoin and customs controls

Are there customs limitations on transporting Bitcoin across borders as with cash and securities? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Hi Smartfreddy. Laws regulating Bitcoin are still in their fledgling stages, and the intangibility of virtual currencies makes controlling transactions for customs purposes difficult. However, it is interesting to note that in the USA virtual currencies are classified in the same way as stocks for regulatory purposes, and stocks are considered cash-like instruments and are therefore subject to the US$ 10,000 non-declarable currency-equivalent import limit.

So far, bitcoin and crypto in general has been legislated pretty much like securities in Switzerland. There are no Swiss customs limitations on securities as far as I know. But you do have to declare bitcoin on your tax returns like other securities. The tax authority even publishes an official end-of-year BTC/CHF exchange rate for tax purposes.

Hello everybody

I think @dieter wrote a good compilation of the advantages.

Additionaly, I want to add the following disadvantages:

• Compared to credit cards from Visa and Mastercard, only very few shops accept Bitcoin as a payment method.
• The value of a bitcoin relative to each currency fluctuates much more. For example, during the corona crisis, the bitcoin price has decreased more than 60 percent. This was a massive break down even compared to the stock markets. Bitcoin can be a safe haven according to its fans; but at least in the past this was not yet the case.
• At the moment, it is much easier to manage a fiat money account and carry out transactions in fiat money than in bitcoin.

Best wishes

Milton

Moneyguru von moneyland.ch wrote on January 24, 2017

Hi Smartfreddy. Laws regulating Bitcoin are still in their fledgling stages, and the intangibility of virtual currencies makes controlling transactions for customs purposes difficult. However, it is interesting to note that in the USA virtual currencies are classified in the same way as stocks for regulatory purposes, and stocks are considered cash-like instruments and are therefore subject to the US$ 10,000 non-declarable currency-equivalent import limit.