A campaign to force the Swiss National Bank to hold Bitcoin in its reserves has officially failed. The initiative, which aimed to trigger a national referendum on the matter, did not collect enough signatures by the deadline. It will now lapse without a public vote.
How the signature drive fell short
Under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, a popular initiative needs a set number of valid signatures within a specific time frame to force a referendum. The campaign didn’t hit that mark. Proponents had been gathering support for months, but the final count came up short. The exact shortfall wasn’t disclosed, but the effort is now dead.
Why the proposal mattered
The idea was simple: require the Swiss National Bank to allocate a portion of its foreign exchange reserves to Bitcoin. That would have been a major shift for the famously cautious central bank. The SNB has long resisted crypto, arguing it’s too volatile and illiquid for reserve management. A successful referendum would have forced the board to reconsider — or at least publicly defend its stance.
What this means for crypto in Switzerland
Switzerland remains one of the world’s most crypto-friendly jurisdictions. The “Crypto Valley” in Zug hosts hundreds of blockchain firms. But this failure shows that translating local adoption into national policy is still a hard sell. The SNB won’t be buying Bitcoin anytime soon — at least not by legal compulsion. Other proposals, like requiring the central bank to study digital assets, could still emerge, but nothing concrete has been announced.
The signature deadline has now passed. The campaign is over. Proponents haven’t said whether they’ll try again. For now, the SNB’s policy stays the same.
