Swiss National Bank (SNB) President Martin Schlegel has rejected the idea of keeping Bitcoin as part of Switzerland’s central bank reserves, citing a lack of stability, liquidity and security, according to local media.
In a speech with the Tamedia group, Schlegel quoted three primary concerns about Cryptocurrencies. The first is their volatility, which he said makes them unsuitable for long -term value.
“Secondly, our reserves must be very fluid so that they can be used quickly for monetary policy purposes,” Schlegel told Tamedia before pointing to a lack of security associated with being software -based assets. “We all know that software can have bugs and other weak points.”
The words of the Swiss national banking president come in the midst of a growing debate in Switzerland about the beginning asset class. A recent initiative is pushing for a constitutional change that requires SNB to keep Bitcoin in its reserves with gold, says the article.
The initiative, launched in December and led by entrepreneur Yves Bennaim, does not go closer to detail when it comes to the Bitcoin allocations but specifies that it should be built up from the bank’s earnings. It has 18 months to collect 100,000 signatures in an attempt to trigger a nationwide vote on the subject.
Despite Switzerland’s growing acceptance of Cryptocurrencies, with various Swiss banks offering customers cryptocurrency-related services, Schlegel rejected the asset class as a “niche phenomenon.” Currency, he told Tamedia, has already been in competition, and Schlegel maintained that the bank is “not afraid of competition from Cryptocurrencies,” with reference to the continued strength of the Swiss franc.
