Swiss activists to abandon bid to get Swiss National Bank (SNB) to hold bitcoin in its reserves after collecting only about half of the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a national referendum.
The initiative aimed to amend the Swiss constitution so that the SNB would hold bitcoins alongside gold and foreign exchange reserves. The group was given 18 months to collect signatures and push for the country’s direct democracy to vote on the issue.
The Federal Chancellery presented this proposal as an amendment to the country’s Federal Constitution, requiring that part of the SNB’s monetary reserves be held in gold and bitcoin. The text did not specify an allocation.
The campaign had presented bitcoin as a neutral reserve asset and a hedge against exposure to dollar and euro-denominated holdings. Supporters said these currencies accounted for about three-quarters of the SNB’s foreign exchange reserves, according to Reuters.
The SNB previously rejected the idea last year, when it opposed adding Bitcoin to its reserves due to concerns about the cryptocurrency’s liquidity and volatility.
