A campaign to amend the Swiss constitution and force the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to hold Bitcoin as part of its official reserves has officially lapsed after organizers failed to collect the necessary 100,000 signatures for a national referendum. According to Reuters, crypto advocates managed to gather only about half of the required support within the 18-month window, prompting them to abandon the initiative.
The Bitcoin Initiative, which sought to diversify Switzerland's reserve assets away from traditional currencies like the dollar and euro, argued that Bitcoin offered a neutral and independent store of value. However, the SNB repeatedly rejected the idea, stating that cryptocurrencies remain too volatile and lack the liquidity, security, and reliability needed for central bank reserves.
Campaign founder Yves Bennaim acknowledged the long odds from the start but emphasized that the effort advanced the conversation around Bitcoin's role in national reserves. He suggested the concept could resurface in future political debates. The failure comes amid a broader global skepticism, with institutions like the European Central Bank also warning against crypto in official reserves, while the Czech National Bank took only a minor step of acquiring digital assets for research.