The Swiss National Bank has rejected the inclusion of Bitcoin in its reserves, while activists continue to push for constitutional changes.
According to Reuters, during a shareholders’ meeting in Bern, Martin Schlegel, president of the Swiss central bank, made it clear that “cryptocurrency cannot currently fulfil the requirements for our currency reserves.”
It is not the first time Schlegel has spoken out against adopting Bitcoin as part of national reserves. Back in March, he had already expressed his opposition to making Bitcoin a Swiss reserve asset, citing concerns over stability, liquidity, and security risks.
The constitutional proposal moves forward
Despite the SNB’s resistance, the Swiss Federal Chancellery has initiated a proposal to amend the Constitution and require the National Bank to hold Bitcoin. The initiative needs to collect 100,000 signatures to trigger a referendum that could amend the third paragraph of Article 99 of the Constitution.
Currently, the text reads:
“The Swiss National Bank shall create sufficient currency reserves from its revenues; part of these reserves shall be held in gold.”
If the initiative succeeds, the words “and in Bitcoin” would be added. Supporting the proposal is the Swiss non-profit organization 2B4CH, which has prepared and submitted the necessary documentation.
2B4CH can count on backing from industry figures, including Giw Zanganeh, vice president of energy and mining at Tether. Yves Bennaim, founder and chairman of 2B4CH, commented:
“We are not saying — go all in with bitcoin, but if you have nearly 1 trillion francs in reserves, like the SNB does, then it makes sense to have 1–2% of that in an asset that is increasing in value, becoming more secure, and that everyone wants to own.”
Lusius Meisser, board member of Bitcoin Suisse, emphasized that “holding bitcoins makes more and more sense as the world transitions to a multipolar arrangement,” adding that the need is especially pressing “now that the dollar and the euro are weakening.”
According to Meisser, holding Bitcoin would spare the central bank from the political influence of foreign currencies, considering that most reserves are denominated in dollars and euros. He also pointed out that “politicians are eventually tempted to print money to fund their agendas, and Bitcoin is a currency that cannot be diluted because of its scarcity nature.”
