BIS Bashes Bitcoin; Search for Binnigen Bank Robber Continues; Massive Electric Car Charging Station Planned; Pope’s Visit Causing Cost Concerns

News for 19 June 2018

The Basel based Bank for International Settlements (BIS) weighed in with its opinion of cryptocurrencies in a report published a few days ago.  The report throws cold water on those holding enthusiastic ideas about the prospects of Bitcoins, Etherium, Dogecoins, and the thousands of other cryptocurrencies in circulation.  Among the BIS's concerns are the lack of central clearing for transactions, the fragility of the ledger which keeps track of transactions, and the likely inability of the current system of cryptocurrencies to properly scale with modern monetary demand.  For those skeptical of the report, it was easy to point out that the BIS is the central bank to the world's national banks whose mission is to maintain easy centralized clearing of international transactions, the very opposite of decentralized cryptocurrency systems.

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Basel-Landschaft police are looking for witnesses of an armed bank robbery, which occurred last Friday at the Raiffeisenbank on Haupstrasste 50 in Binnigen.  At 2:30 PM a man of about 190 cm tall with a slender stature entered the bank and demanded cash after he presented a weapon. He fled toward Kornenplantz in Binnigen with several thousand francs. The offender has a well-groomed appearance, had a two-day old beard and spoke broken German.  If you have any information contact the Operations Control Center Liestal at 061 553 35 35. Police are offering a CHF 5,000 reward if your tip leads to an arrest. *********** Switzerland continues to lead the charge in offering electric mobility alternatives to motorists on its highways.  The largest electric charging station in Europe is planned for the A2 highway, just outside Basel in Pratteln.  If all goes to plan, by 2023, 280 charging stations will be housed inside a building developed by the Elektra Baselland (EBL) cooperative, on a site that is intended to be the centerpiece of the Swiss E-mobility hub. EBL is still in the process of searching for investors for the large scale project. According to highway authority statistics, the location is ideal because of the approximately 130,000 vehicles that pass by each day. *********** On Thursday, Pope Francis will hold a mass at the Palexpo convention center in Geneva at 5:30 p.m. The budget for his visit to Switzerland has already exceeded two million Swiss francs.  One million francs covers the security around the visit while the other million is going toward infrastructure and audiovisual costs. A last-minute appeal for donations was launched, but only 15 parishes have donated an average of 1,500 francs.  The last papal mass in Switzerland was by Pope John Paul II in Bern in June of 2004, which attracted 70,000 people.   In addition to the mass on Thursday, Pope Francis will attend a meeting of the World Council of Churches, which represents around 500 million Christians globally.