Swiss Central Bank Bitcoin Reserve Bid Fails Due to Signature Shortfall

A bid by campaigners in Switzerland to get the country's central bank to hold bitcoin as part of its reserve has been dropped due to a shortfall in signatures needed for a national referendum.

The proposal, which aimed to amend the Swiss constitution to require the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to hold BTC alongside gold and foreign-currency reserves, collected around 50,000 signatures over an 18-month period. However, this fell short of the 100,000 needed to trigger a national vote on the issue.

The SNB had previously expressed concerns about adding bitcoin to its reserve due to the cryptocurrency's liquidity and volatility. The campaigners had argued that holding BTC would provide a hedge against exposure to dollar- and euro-denominated holdings, which make up around three-quarters of the SNB's foreign-currency reserves.