A push for a referendum in Switzerland to mandate the central bank's holding of Bitcoin has effectively fallen through.
According to Reuters, the Swiss digital asset advocacy group 'Bitcoin Initiative' pushed for a constitutional amendment requiring the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to hold Bitcoin alongside its gold and foreign exchange reserves, but decided to halt the campaign after failing to gather the 100,000 signatures required for a referendum. It is reported that the number of signatures secured was only half of the target.
This attempt was a symbolic move to have Bitcoin recognized as part of the national reserve assets rather than merely as an investment asset. Supporters have argued that Bitcoin could contribute to Switzerland's financial neutrality and asset diversification, breaking away from the existing reserve asset system centered on the dollar and the euro.
However, the central bank held a different view. The SNB has consistently stated that virtual assets such as Bitcoin struggle to meet the liquidity, stability, and value preservation requirements demanded of reserve assets. In particular, high price volatility and market liquidity issues were cited as key grounds for opposition.
This failure demonstrates that while Bitcoin is entering the institutional framework through ETFs and corporate financial strategies, it is still a long way from being included as a central bank reserve asset. This implies that there is a distinct gap between the speed of adoption in private financial markets and the speed of acceptance in the realm of national monetary policy.
However, the discussion itself has not ended. The argument for Bitcoin as a reserve asset continues to be raised, primarily by central banks and certain countries such as the United States and the Czech Republic. The recent Swiss case is significant in that it has brought the question of whether central banks can hold Bitcoin into the realm of real-world politics.
Ultimately, the failure of the Swiss referendum is interpreted not as a failure of Bitcoin, but as a signal that the standards to be recognized as a central bank reserve asset remain high. For Bitcoin to move beyond the market narrative of being "digital gold" and establish itself as an actual national asset, challenges remain in mitigating volatility, verifying liquidity, and securing policy credibility.
