Bitcoin Forum

Which country do you think has the lowest chance of someone having their bank accounts seized like happened in Cyprus?

Switzerland
Australia
New Zeland
Canada
Ireland

in that order

Liechtenstein-Luxembourg-Swiss

The problem with the Swiss are that they caved into the US on banking secrecy, taxes etc.  If they had stood firm, I'd be much more likely to put them at the top of the list, but they were craven and caved.

I'd put 'bitcoin' at the top of the list even though it is not a country.

The more certain the legal protection of property, the higher a country’s score; similarly, the greater the chances of government expropriation of property, the lower a country’s score. Countries that fall between two categories may receive an intermediate score.
Untill now none has that protection we can believe.

As an EU resident I can say, none of the EU members, we're just waiting on who's turn it is next. :P

Safest country, I think is Switzerland.
But if you want to be really safe, Bitcoin/Litecoin or gold/silver stored at your home, no matter which country you live in. How less control a government has over it, how safer you are. ;)

USA

I would have agreed with New Zealand until i saw this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hlFcnkGY-o (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hlFcnkGY-o)

Probably Swiss had the strongest property protection rights as long as client don't make a deal with scams. Btw Swiss has different laws from US laws about banking.

I don't know other countries laws, but yeah the US will seize anything if they think it is related to money laundering.  They will find a way, and it is extremely easy to accuse bitcoin of being linked to money laundering and tax evasion so...
Who has Dread Pirate Robert's coins???? ;D 
Bad example, but a true example nonetheless.

 

Protection isn't the issue (laws can be changed) as much as the possible future need for a Sovereign bank to confiscate funds to keep the nation afloat. So a country with a strong economy and with a stable banking sector is the safest place rather than a country which today has strong savers protection laws which could be re-written tomorrow.

http://www.internationalpropertyrightsindex.org (http://www.internationalpropertyrightsindex.org)
Top Ten 2013
These are the countries where property rights are most secure. See a complete list.
Rank   Country   Rating
1   Finland   8.6
2   New Zealand   8.4
3   Sweden   8.4
4   Norway   8.3
5   Netherlands   8.2
6   Switzerland   8.2
7   Luxemburg   8.1
8   Singapore   8.1
9   Canada   8.0
10   Denmark   8.0

Any EU country is NOT safe!

Swiss cheese

As long as one didn't belong to the original owners of the land for thousands of years.

Well, countries with an offshore banking industry have the most to lose (in terms of reputation), so I'd start offshore. But even then there'll be variation - Switzerland has been pressurised by both the US and the EU, Singapore has been seen as safe but is now thought to be under EU pressure, etc (and I don't follow this as closely as I should, so don't pay too much attention to the countries I mention - they're pointers, not recommendations). Best advice I could give would be to (a) look at offshore options, (b) have multiple accounts in different jurisdictions (to spread risk), and (c) review your decisions periodically.

Remember, too, that it'll depend on where you are resident - a bank in Luxembourg might be a good choice for a US resident, but less so for a EU national, and likewise (but reversed) for a Caribbean bank.

And one (hopefully obvious!) option is to keep some of your wealth in Bitcoin, in several offline wallets backed up in multiple locations. It requires some work, but is arguably easier than opening and managing an offshore account.

Germany, holland, some of the Scandinavian nations

No mention of the Cayman Islands?... Jersey?.. Belize?

They all are in the EU, too risky IMHO.

I'd say swiss. They caved to the US, but at least it was somewhat justified. I'd prefer it if they didn't, though.

Actually, normally I'd say cayman islands or panama or something, but it seems faaar too likely that one day the US or EU is going to come up to them with a military vessel and they're going to have absolutely no choice but to cave. Switzerland has specialized at staying out of military conflicts for hundreds of years, so I give it a bit more credit in being able to negotiate its way out of such a situation.

definitely not poland! over here, your right to protect your property states that you have no right to protect your property!

Not sure why UK isn't getting a mention.  There's a reason so many Russians, Arabs, Chinese and others invest here, its solid country. 

The UK is ok for property rights (assuming you don't count money as property).  It doesn't do well in more general freedom indicies due to it's mammoth government (high taxes and regulation abound).

You need your wealth diversified in stocks from free countries, precious metals, shares of natural ressources companies

If you have Bank Safe, choose Australia, Switzerland, Honk Kong, Singapore, New Zeland

Don't invest in fiat or fiat-like

The country with the strongest property rights will vary depending on what you mean by property.  Some metrics classify intellectual property as property for example, and so a country may score higher than another for having a 3-strikes internet cut-off law for alleged copyright infringement.

If you're just looking into nations where bank deposits are as safe as possible from state seizure, I'd look into Switzerland and Singapore.