{"id":23792,"date":"2025-04-26T12:40:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T12:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=23792"},"modified":"2025-04-26T12:40:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T12:40:55","slug":"swiss-national-bank-rejects-calls-to-add-bitcoin-reserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=23792","title":{"rendered":"Swiss National Bank Rejects Calls to Add Bitcoin Reserves"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The Swiss National Bank has rejected holding bitcoin reserves, citing concerns over cryptocurrency market liquidity and volatility.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For cryptocurrencies, market liquidity, even if it may seem ok at times, is especially during crises naturally called into question,\u201d said SNB President Martin Schlegel at the bank\u2019s General Assembly meeting Friday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCryptocurrencies also are known for their high volatility, which is a risk for long term value preservation. In short, one can say that cryptocurrencies for the moment do not fulfill the high requirements for our currency reserves.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"display:none\">Unknown block type &#8220;jwpVideo&#8221;, specify a component for it in the `components.types` option<\/div>\n<p>Schlegel\u2019s comments were prompted by the <a href=\"http:\/\/initiativebtc.ch\/en\/\">Bitcoin Initiative<\/a>, a bitcoin advocacy group whose research demonstrates that adding bitcoin to Switzerland\u2019s treasury would complement its overall portfolio and yield substantial return with minimal volatility.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.sanity.io\/images\/s3y3vcno\/production\/0df58fe390bea5c799438abe6557ce27cd143b96-1476x978.png?auto=format\" alt=\"What if the Swiss National Bank added bitcoin to its portfolio?\" title=\"What if the Swiss National Bank added bitcoin to its portfolio?\"><\/p>\n<p>Without bitcoin, the Swiss National Bank&#8217;s investments grew by about 10% since 2015. A 1% bitcoin allocation to the central bank\u2019s portfolio would have nearly doubled returns over the same period, according to a Bitcoin Initiative portfolio simulation. Annualized volatility would have increased only slightly.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The Bitcoin Initiative emphasized that bitcoin&#8217;s volatility should not be evaluated in isolation, but in terms of its influence on the overall dynamics and performance of the investment portfolio.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Bitcoin] price reached new highs, it showed resilience under market stress, and it continues to be highly liquid with trading volumes in the double digit billions, every day and night, even on bank holidays,\u201d said Luzius Meisser, a member of the Bitcoin Initiative and board member of Bitcoin Suisse.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Bitcoin network remains one of the most reliable and secure IT systems ever created. And most remarkably, the United States has started a strategic bitcoin stockpile.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>In an emailed statement to CoinDesk, the Bitcoin Initiative suggested the Swiss National Bank\u2019s aversion to bitcoin might be political, as it could be perceived as \u201can expression of distrust towards other currencies\u201d and harm delicate relations between Switzerland and the European Union.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>European Central Bank President Christine LaGarde has consistently criticized bitcoin, calling it \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/crypto-assets-worth-nothing-ecb-christine-lagarde\/#:~:text=%22I%20have%20said%20all%20along,as%20an%20anchor%20of%20safety.%22\">worth nothing<\/a>\u201d and a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/policy\/2021\/01\/13\/ecbs-christine-lagarde-says-speculative-bitcoin-needs-global-regulation\">highly speculative asset<\/a>\u201d linked to money laundering. In January, Lagarde said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-01-30\/lagarde-is-confident-eu-central-banks-will-shun-bitcoin-reserves?sref=3REHEaVI\">\u201cI\u2019m confident<\/a>\u201d that \u201cbitcoins will not enter the reserves of any of the central banks of the General Council\u201d of the ECB.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>That was in response to comments made by Czech National Bank Governor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/policy\/2025\/01\/30\/czech-national-bank-approves-proposal-to-study-bitcoin-as-reserve-asset\">Ales Michl <\/a>that his institution was evaluating adding bitcoin to its reserves. LaGarde argued that bitcoin fails to meet the ECB\u2019s criteria for liquidity, security, and safety from criminal associations.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>In February, <a href=\"https:\/\/businessinsider.com.pl\/gospodarka\/prezes-nbp-nie-rozwazamy-trzymania-rezerw-w-bitcoinach\/tngshsc\">Poland&#8217;s central bank<\/a> ruled out \u201ckeeping reserves in bitcoins under any circumstances\u201d and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.romania-insider.com\/bnr-warning-bitcoin\">Romanian central bank<\/a> warned banks not to issue loans to crypto companies.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said in December 2024 that the U.S. central bank was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/markets\/2024\/12\/18\/fed-cuts-interest-rates-by-25-basis-points-bitcoin-slips-below-104-k-on-hawkish-tone\">not allowed to own bitcoin<\/a>\u201d per the Federal Reserve Act and it\u2019s not looking to change the law.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The Swiss National Bank has indirect bitcoin exposure through stocks that own corporate bitcoin treasuries, including 520,000 shares of Strategy, 8.12 million shares of Tesla, 580,000 shares of MARA Holdings, and 500,000 shares of CleanSpark, as of the end of 2024 according to <a href=\"https:\/\/fintel.io\/i\/swiss-national-bank\">Fintel data<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Schlegel rejected citizen calls to add bitcoin reserves to the Swiss central bank\u2019s coffers as recently as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/markets\/2025\/03\/01\/swiss-national-bank-president-reportedly-dismisses-bitcoin-as-reserve-asset\">last month<\/a>. When it comes to technological advancements, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/currencies\/swiss-national-bank-chairman-wary-cryptocurrencies-2024-11-07\/\">Schlegel noted Thursday<\/a> that the SNB is running a pilot project using central bank digital currencies to facilitate payments between financial institutions.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/policy\/2025\/03\/06\/trump-signs-order-setting-up-bitcoin-fort-knox-and-digital-assets-stockpile\">executive order<\/a> this year that establishes a strategic bitcoin reserve and crypto stockpile, along with a Crypto Council that will evaluate budget neutral ways to supplement U.S. digital reserves. The order further prohibits government agencies from creating or promoting a central bank digital currency in the United States out of privacy concerns for citizens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Swiss National Bank has rejected holding bitcoin reserves, citing concerns over cryptocurrency market liquidity and volatility. &#8220;For cryptocurrencies, market liquidity, even if it may seem ok at times, is especially during crises naturally called into question,\u201d said SNB President Martin Schlegel at the bank\u2019s General Assembly meeting Friday. \u201cCryptocurrencies also are known for their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-23792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}