The Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) Chairman Thomas Jordan revealed that the bank has decided not to have the world’s largest cryptocurrency on its balance sheet. At the same time, though, the organization is mulling over digital currencies to an extent.
Bitcoin, Not Yet
At the central bank’s annual general meeting on Friday, the Chairman stated that SNB does not believe that Bitcoin meets the requirements of currency reserves in the current perspective. Adding BTC to its balance sheet is not a problem for SNB, according to Jordan, but will only do so when they are fully convinced.
As per Reuters’ report, Jordan stated,
“Buying bitcoin is not a problem for us, we can do that either directly or can buy investment products which are based on bitcoin. We can arrange the technical and operative conditions relatively quickly when we are convinced we must have bitcoin in our balance sheet.”
It is important to note that Switzerland has managed to establish itself as one of the most crypto-friendly countries and currently has the most profitable Bitcoin traders in the world.
Compiling data from Chainalysis, Invezz found that the central European country boasts the highest gains per investor at $1,268. Additionally, its southern city Lugano earlier announced plans to make Bitcoin, Tether, and LGV a part of its legal payment alongside the Swiss Franc under the ambitious “Plan ₿” that will allow its 62,000 citizens to pay for public service fees or taxes in these currencies.
Dabbling in Central Bank Digital Currency
Switzerland has also been exploring CBDCs since at least 2019. After initially dismissing reports for planning a digital currency, the SNB informed that the launch of a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) is expected in January of next year via the country’s newly licensed Six Digital Exchange (SDX).
While the launch still remains a policy decision, the central bank, along with five commercial banks – Citigroup Inc, UBS Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Credit Suisse Group AG, and Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG – reportedly conducted a trial to determine whether they can process CBDCs within the nation’s financial network. The trail was part of an experiment known as “Project Helvetica.”
Featured Image Courtesy of Central Banking