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Switzerland’s bid to require the Swiss National Bank to hold Bitcoin is set to end after supporters failed to gather enough signatures for a national referendum. Campaigners had 18 months to collect 100,000 valid signatures for a constitutional amendment that would have placed Bitcoin alongside gold and foreign-currency reserves, but they secured only around half that number as the deadline approached.
Campaign founder Yves Bennaim acknowledged that the odds were difficult and said the initiative would be allowed to expire. While the reserve campaign has effectively stalled, the effort has still pulled Bitcoin into a more formal monetary-policy discussion.
The political pathway proved too steep under Switzerland’s direct-democracy rules, where signature collection is only the first gate before any public vote. The shortfall highlights that Bitcoin reserve ideas can draw attention, but converting crypto-native enthusiasm into broad civic participation and institutional legitimacy at national scale remains challenging.
The Swiss National Bank has consistently opposed adding cryptocurrencies to its reserves. Its objections have centered on volatility and what it describes as insufficient market liquidity for reserve management.
The central bank has also argued that reserve assets must allow it to quickly expand or reduce its balance sheet while preserving long-term value. In this view, Bitcoin’s “strategic hedge” narrative conflicts with operational requirements related to liquidity, safety, and balance-sheet flexibility—creating a policy gap between the insurance argument and the risk-management standards applied to reserves.
Switzerland’s setback is occurring within a broader international conversation about whether and how digital assets could be used in official reserves. The Czech National Bank reportedly bought about $1 million in crypto and blockchain-related assets to better understand digital markets, while the European Central Bank has remained cautious. In Taiwan, lawmaker Dr. Ko Ju-Chun proposed Bitcoin reserves during a legislative session.
Reserve experimentation, however, remains fragmented across jurisdictions, with governments moving at different speeds. At the same time, Bitcoin has been volatile: it recently fell below $80,000 after multi-month highs and was down more than 36% from last year’s all-time high, reinforcing volatility as a central factor in the policy debate.
With Switzerland’s referendum route now effectively closed, the immediate push for a constitutional requirement has stalled. Still, the campaign has contributed to keeping Bitcoin reserve adoption within the scope of monetary-policy deliberations, even as political thresholds and market confidence must align simultaneously for national-scale change.
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