Swiss National Bank (SNB) President Martin Schlegel has rejected the idea of holding bitcoin as part of Switzerland’s national reserves, responding to a recent citizens’ initiative pushing for bitcoin and gold-backed reserves.
According to Swiss Info, Schlegel argued that bitcoin’s high volatility makes it unsuitable as a long-term reserve asset. Additionally, he emphasized the need for high liquidity in central bank reserves to ensure swift monetary policy actions, something cryptocurrencies cannot guarantee.
Beyond volatility and liquidity concerns, Schlegel raised security risks, stating that bitcoin, as software, remains vulnerable to bugs and weaknesses. He further downplayed crypto’s relevance in global finance, noting that the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies, which is currently at $2.8 trillion, is still relatively small.
Despite this stance, the Bitcoin Initiative launched in December 2024 aims to collect 100,000 signatures to bring the matter to a national vote. The proposal suggests amending Switzerland’s constitution to require the SNB to hold reserves in bitcoin and gold, though it does not specify an allocation amount.
