Campaigners drop bid to make Swiss National Bank hold bitcoin

Authorities had given campaigners 18 months ‌to make the case for changing the constitution to make the Swiss central bank store bitcoin alongside its gold and foreign currency reserves. But with only a few weeks remaining, the Bitcoin Initiative said it has only managed to get about half of the ‌100,000 signatures needed under Swiss law.

Cryptocurrency advocates trying to make ‌the Swiss ​National Bank hold bitcoin in its reserves are set to drop their campaign after failing to get enough signatures to trigger a referendum. Authorities had given campaigners 18 months ‌to make the case for changing the constitution to make the Swiss central bank store bitcoin alongside its gold and foreign currency reserves.

But with only a few weeks remaining, the Bitcoin Initiative said it has only managed to get about half of the ‌100,000 signatures needed under Swiss law. "We knew from the beginning that it was a long shot," the campaign's founder Yves ‌Bennaim told Reuters.

"For now, we are going to let the initiative lapse," he said, adding that the campaign had made progress towards one day achieving its goal. Central banks have studied holding cryptocurrencies in their reserves, but the SNB has rejected the idea, saying their prices are too volatile and the ⁠market not ​liquid enough.

"Cryptocurrencies do not ⁠meet the SNB's currency reserve requirements," the SNB said, referring to its rules which say its balance sheet should be able to be expanded or ⁠shrunk as necessary, while its reserves should preserve their value. It declined to comment on the Bitcoin Initiative's failure. The Czech National Bank last year ​bought $1 million of cryptocurrency and other blockchain-based digital assets to gain experience with digital markets.

Others, such as the European ⁠Central Bank, are more sceptical, saying reserves should be "liquid, secure and safe". 'ALTERNATIVE TO THE DOLLAR OR THE EURO'

A recent downturn in bitcoin's price has underscored ⁠the vulnerability ​of digital assets, with investors playing it safer amid uncertainty around U.S. Federal Reserve policy. Bennaim said bitcoin, which has lost 7.5% in value in 2026 on top of losses of 6.4% last year, was not illiquid, citing tens of ⁠billions of dollars worth of daily transactions.

The initiative was a bid to push the SNB to examine a technology that ⁠was changing global finance, he ⁠said. Supporters say bitcoin would help diversify risk away from dollar- and euro-denominated assets, which make up three-quarters of the SNB's foreign currency reserves.

"Bitcoin is an alternative to the dollar or ‌the euro, and ‌is internationally neutral, like Switzerland," Bennaim said.