A group cryptocurrency advocates in Switzerland has urged the government to consider the addition of Bitcoin in the national reserve.
The Swiss Federal Chancellery initiated the process to gain the required number of signatures to push for the amendment of the country’s constitution to allow the Swiss National Bank to build Bitcoin holdings.
Bitcoin Initiative Set In Motion
Before 2024 expired, the Swiss Federal Chancellery got the ball rolling for the proposal to include cryptocurrency in the country’s balance sheet.
The state-run government agency said the proposal seeks to revise certain provisions of the Swiss Federal Constitution to allow the Swiss National Bank to buy Bitcoin as part of the European country’s national reserve.
Swiss central bank faces call to hold #bitcoin in reserveshttps://t.co/o7qO7fBnEi
— Gunther Schnabl (@GuntherSchnabl) January 1, 2025
After examining the prospect, the Swiss Federal Chancellery set in motion the process for the crypto Initiative, saying that the proposal formally satisfied the legal requirements.”
“For a financially sound, sovereign and responsible Switzerland (Bitcoin Initiative)” satisfies the conditions set out in Article 69 paragraph 2 of the Federal Act of 17 December 1976 on Political Rights,” the government body stated on the Fedlex website.
100,000 Signatures Needed
The Initiative needed to gather around 100,000 signatures from the Swiss public to push for the constitutional amendment that will require the country’s central bank to add BTC as part of the nation’s monetary reserve together with gold.
The Swiss Federal Chancellery aims to get the required number of signatures by June 30, 2026 to advance the proposal which seeks to amend Article 99 Paragraph 3 of the country’s federal constitution.
The initiative will add the clause: “The National Bank builds up sufficient monetary reserves from its own earnings; part of these reserves are made up of gold and Bitcoin” in the Swiss Federal Constitution, giving the country’s central bank the authority to purchase the top digital asset for its national reserves.
Long Way To Go
Reports said that for the constitution amendment to happen, crypto advocates must get an estimated 1.12% of the Swiss population, or 8.92 million citizens, to back the petition.
Once the threshold has been met, the Bitcoin Initiative will be elevated to the country’s bicameral parliament, the Swiss Federal Assembly to undergo review.
The proposal was submitted by 10 cryptocurrency advocates in Switzerland to urge the Swiss government to adopt Bitcoin in its national reserves. Among these advocates are Tether Vice President of Energy and Mining Giw Zanganeh and 2B4CH founder Yves Bennaïm.
However, the Swiss National Bank remains to have a conservative stance regarding cryptocurrencies, worrying about the risk associated with adopting Bitcoin in the central bank.
Martin Schlegel, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, believed that Bitcoin and other digital assets are still considered a “niche phenomenon”, adding that cryptocurrencies have limitations brought by their volatility and association with illicit activities.
Featured image from Newsweek, chart from TradingView
