Switzerland Launches Nationwide Petition for Referendum: Bitcoin Integration into National Currency Reserves
At the end of December 2024, the Swiss Federal Chancellery initiated a constitutional proposal that requires the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to include Bitcoin in its currency reserves. Supporters of the proposal must collect over 100,000 signatures by June 30, 2026, in order to initiate a nationwide referendum.
The proposal was jointly launched by Giw Zanganeh, Vice President of Tether Energy and Mining, Yves Bennaïm, founder and chairman of the Swiss nonprofit Bitcoin think tank 2B4CH, and eight other Bitcoin supporters. Bennaïm stated that a previous proposal in October 2021 failed to gather 100,000 signatures from Swiss citizens within 18 months. However, 2B4CH has been preparing relevant documents for submission to the Federal Chancellery since April 2024, and Bennaïm said, “We are waiting for the right moment. Now everything is ready, and that’s why we are submitting the documents and starting to collect signatures.”
The constitutional proposal was submitted on December 5, 2024, and was officially published in the Swiss Federal Gazette on Twitter on December 31. Supporters of the proposal stated that the law aims to establish a financially sound, sovereign, and responsible Switzerland.
Bitcoin’s development in Switzerland has gained momentum, particularly in the city of Lugano, where Bitcoin usage has reached a significant scale. The city not only hosts the annual “Plan ₿” Bitcoin conference but also has approximately 260 stores that accept Bitcoin transactions. This serves as the foundation for supporters of the Bitcoin reserve proposal in the country. However, according to reports, the current chairman of the Swiss central bank, Martin Schlegel, remains cautious about cryptocurrencies.
Due to the endorsement of cryptocurrencies by former US President Donald Trump, the importance of Bitcoin is being emphasized, and countries worldwide are beginning to consider whether to include cryptocurrencies in their national currency reserves. This can be seen as a new global phenomenon in 2024.
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