Swiss bid to require central bank to hold Bitcoin fails

A campaign to require the Swiss National Bank to hold Bitcoin will lapse after organizers said they collected roughly half of the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a constitutional referendum. The proposal would have amended the constitution to direct the central bank to include Bitcoin alongside gold and foreign currency reserves.

Organizers collected signatures during the statutory period for constitutional initiatives but fell short of the legal threshold. With support below the required level, the measure will not advance to a nationwide vote.

The Swiss National Bank has opposed adding cryptocurrencies to its balance sheet, arguing digital assets do not meet reserve-management standards because of concerns about price volatility and liquidity.

Campaign founder Yves Bennaim acknowledged the initiative was unlikely to succeed and said the effort helped advance debate about Bitcoin’s role in global finance.

Supporters of the proposal argued that holding Bitcoin could diversify Switzerland’s reserves away from dollar- and euro-denominated assets, which make up roughly three-quarters of the SNB’s foreign currency holdings. Critics and the central bank pointed to the volatility and limited liquidity that they view as obstacles to using Bitcoin as an official reserve asset.

A small number of countries and entities have placed Bitcoin in official or quasi-official roles. El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender and holds 7,645 BTC. Bhutan accumulated large holdings through state-backed mining powered by surplus hydroelectric energy but reduced its reported holdings from about 13,000 BTC at the end of 2024 to roughly 3,654 BTC by April 2026 following a series of transfers.

The largest sovereign Bitcoin balances in public tracking — associated with the United States, China and the United Kingdom — primarily stem from criminal seizures and forfeiture proceedings rather than purchases or mining. In the United States, an executive order issued on March 6, 2025 established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve capitalized with government-held Bitcoin and included a provision that BTC in the reserve “shall not be sold.” The order allows officials to explore budget-neutral options for acquiring additional Bitcoin.

Organizers of the Swiss campaign said the petition process brought renewed attention to how central banks might approach digital assets in national reserve strategies, even as the initiative fails to reach the referendum threshold.