Swiss Bitcoin Reserve Campaign Collapses After Falling Short of Required Signatures

TLDR:

• The Swiss Bitcoin Initiative fell short, collecting only 50,000 of the 100,000 signatures required for a referendum. 
• The SNB rejected Bitcoin as a reserve asset, citing excessive price volatility and insufficient market liquidity. 
• Bitcoin recorded losses of 7.5% in 2026, following a 6.4% decline in 2025, weakening the campaign’s core argument. 
• Central banks remain divided, with the Czech National Bank exploring crypto while the ECB demands liquid, secure reserves.

The Swiss Bitcoin Initiative has officially abandoned its campaign to require the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to hold Bitcoin in its reserves.

The campaign secured only about 50,000 signatures — half of the 100,000 required under Swiss law to trigger a constitutional referendum.

With only weeks left on the 18-month deadline, campaign founder Yves Bennaim confirmed the initiative would be allowed to lapse.

Campaign Fails to Meet Referendum Threshold

The Bitcoin Initiative launched with an ambitious goal: amend Switzerland’s constitution to compel the SNB to store Bitcoin alongside gold and foreign currency reserves.

Authorities granted campaigners 18 months to build public support. However, momentum proved difficult to sustain throughout the campaign period.

Bennaim acknowledged the uphill nature of the effort from the start. “We knew from the beginning that it was a long shot,” he told Reuters.

Despite falling short, he added that the campaign had moved the conversation forward on digital assets and central bank policy.

“For now, we are going to let the initiative lapse,” he said, noting that progress had still been made toward the long-term goal.

The SNB firmly opposed the proposal throughout. The bank stated that “cryptocurrencies do not meet the SNB’s currency reserve requirements.”

Its rules demand assets capable of preserving value and supporting flexible balance sheet management. Volatility and insufficient market liquidity were cited as the primary concerns.

Bitcoin’s recent price performance added weight to the SNB’s position. The asset lost 7.5% of its value in 2026, following a 6.4% decline the previous year. These consecutive losses made it harder for campaigners to argue for Bitcoin’s stability as a reserve asset.

Central Banks Remain Divided on Crypto Reserves

Not all central banks share the SNB’s outright rejection. The Czech National Bank invested $1 million in cryptocurrency and blockchain-based assets in 2024 to explore digital markets firsthand. That move reflected a more cautious but open-minded approach to understanding the technology.

The European Central Bank has aligned closer to the SNB’s stance. ECB officials have consistently argued that reserves should be “liquid, secure and safe” — criteria they say cryptocurrencies currently do not satisfy. This division among European institutions reflects a broader global debate on digital asset adoption.

Supporters of the Swiss initiative argued that Bitcoin could reduce the SNB’s reliance on dollar- and euro-denominated assets.

Currently, those currencies account for roughly three-quarters of the SNB’s foreign currency reserves. Proponents see Bitcoin as a viable alternative with long-term diversification potential.

Bennaim said Bitcoin’s daily transaction volumes, running into tens of billions of dollars, counter the liquidity concerns raised by critics.

He described the initiative as a bid to push the SNB to examine “a technology that was changing global finance.” The campaign may have lapsed, but the debate over Bitcoin’s role in central banking is far from settled.

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