Bitcoin as a means of payment

Over the past few years, more than 20 companies from the digital financial sector (also called FinTech) have settled in and around Zug (Switzerland). Recently, the region has been named 'Crypto Valley' hinting to 'Silicon Valley' of California.

This was not a coincidence: The authorities of the city of Zug (Switzerland) have recognized this trend early on and have been accepting Bitcoin as the first governmental organisation globally.

Following this initiative, as one of the first brokers, WALKER RISK SOLUTION started accepting Bitcoin from the 'tech' companies as a payment means for consulting and insurance broking services since beginning of 2017.

Bitcoin is a digital currency backed by a global, decentralized payment system.
Transfers are processed directly between users via the Internet, without the need for a central clearing system. The bitcoin transfer is handled in transactions that work similarly to a bank transfer, but without a bank. The payee must only know the bitcoin address of the payment recipient to transfer an amount.

The controversially discussed bitcoin-transactions are backed by the so-called blockchain technology. In the blockchain, a kind of register, all transactions are recorded.
Also traditional financial institutions, such as banks and clearing organisations, have started to experiment with this technology because the decentralized storage can make transactions more secure.

Bitocin can be purchased in online-exchanges (see external link: https://bitcoin.org/en/exchanges). Like for any currency, the market value of Bitcoins is the result of supply and demand. Bitcoins have so far been used mainly for payments on the Internet. The amount that can be paid in Bitcoins is virtually not limited. Payments in Bitcoin are subject to the anti money laundering legislation.

The payment processing tool we implemented is very user-friendly for our clients. The invoice is calculated in Swiss Francs (CHF) and converted to the daily rate in Bitcoin (BTC).

The payment system is provided by Bitcoin Suisse Ltd, a company based in Baar (Switzerland).

Bitcoin Suisse Ltd is a member of the Swiss Financial Services Standards Association (VQF) and is authorized as a financial intermediary and asset manager in Switzerland.