Switzerland’s campaign to require the Swiss National Bank to hold Bitcoin in its reserves is set to lapse after supporters failed to secure enough signatures for a national vote.
The Bitcoin Initiative sought to amend Article 99, Paragraph 3 of the Swiss Constitution so the SNB would hold part of its monetary reserves in Bitcoin alongside gold. The committee argued that Bitcoin could strengthen Swiss sovereignty and give the country a politically neutral reserve asset in a financial system still dominated by the dollar and euro.
The campaign needed 100,000 valid signatures within 18 months to trigger the next stage of Switzerland’s federal popular initiative process. Reuters said the group had collected only about half the required signatures with a few weeks left, and founder Yves Bennaim said the initiative would be allowed to lapse.
Switzerland’s direct-democracy system gives citizens a formal route to propose constitutional changes, but the threshold is high. A federal popular initiative requires 100,000 eligible voters to sign within 18 months before it can proceed to a national vote. The Bitcoin reserve campaign cleared the awareness hurdle, but it did not build enough broad political support to force a referendum.
SNB Keeps Volatility And Liquidity Concerns Front And Center
The Swiss National Bank has repeatedly pushed back against the idea of holding Bitcoin in its official reserves. SNB Chair Martin Schlegel said in April that cryptocurrencies do not currently meet the central bank’s reserve standards because the SNB must be able to buy and sell assets at scale while preserving value.
That stance reflects the SNB’s reserve mandate. The central bank’s currency reserves include gold holdings, foreign currency investments, its IMF reserve position, and international payment instruments. These assets are managed around monetary-policy flexibility, liquidity, and value preservation, not only long-term return potential.
Bitcoin supporters challenged that logic by pointing to deep global trading volumes, fixed supply, and the asset’s independence from any single government. Their argument was not only about price upside. It centered on reserve diversification, neutrality, and protection from policy risk in dollar and euro assets.
The SNB’s response shows why central banks remain a harder audience than corporations, asset managers, and retail investors. A public company can frame Bitcoin as a treasury bet or an inflation hedge. A central bank must consider daily liquidity, balance-sheet expansion and contraction, currency intervention needs, political accountability, and the risk of a reserve asset losing value during a crisis.
Global Reserve Debate Moves Without Switzerland
The failed signature drive does not end the wider Bitcoin reserve debate. It narrows Switzerland’s immediate route to a constitutional mandate while leaving the topic alive across central-bank research, political campaigns, and institutional treasury discussions.
Reuters noted that the Czech National Bank bought $1 million of cryptocurrency and blockchain-based assets to gain experience with digital markets, while the European Central Bank has stayed more skeptical of crypto reserve assets. That contrast captures the current global split: some institutions are testing digital assets at small scale, while major reserve managers still prioritize assets that are liquid, secure, and stable under stress.
Bitcoin remains large enough to keep the debate alive. CoinGecko placed BTC near $80,000, with a market capitalization around $1.6 trillion, giving supporters enough market depth to argue that the asset can no longer be dismissed as niche. The Swiss campaign’s failure shows that market size alone is not enough for central-bank adoption when reserve policy is tied to liquidity, stability, and public mandate.
The signature shortfall leaves the SNB’s reserve framework unchanged: gold, foreign currency assets, IMF-linked reserves, and international payment instruments remain the core balance-sheet tools. Bitcoin advocates gained visibility, but Switzerland’s central bank is not being forced into a national vote on crypto reserves, and any future push will need a much broader voter base before it can challenge the SNB’s current asset policy.
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