Swiss Bitcoin Reserve Initiative Fails Signature Goal

A campaign to amend Switzerland's constitution and require the Swiss National Bank to hold Bitcoin as a reserve asset alongside gold and foreign currencies has failed after organizers collected only about 50,000 signatures, half the 100,000 needed to trigger a national referendum.

The Bitcoin Initiative, launched 18 months ago, sought to change Article 99 of the constitution to mandate Bitcoin holdings. With the deadline approaching and weeks remaining, founder Yves Bennaïm announced the effort would lapse rather than pursue additional signatures. "We knew from the beginning that it was a long shot," Bennaïm said, adding that the campaign still advanced discussions on digital assets in central banking.

Swiss direct democracy allows citizens to propose constitutional amendments through popular initiatives, but the signature threshold proved insurmountable. Supporters argued Bitcoin would diversify reserves, reducing reliance on dollar- and euro-denominated assets that comprise roughly three-quarters of the bank's foreign currency holdings. They highlighted Bitcoin's fixed supply and global trading volumes in the tens of billions of dollars daily as counters to liquidity concerns.