Switzerland Could Not Even Get 100,000 Signatures to Adopt Bitcoin as Reserves!

[batang_bitcoin]

Do you think if a similar campaign were launched in your country, advocates there could manage to get 100,000 people to sign? Or is public interest in Bitcoin still too minor for that kind of constitutional change in your country?

Possible but I don't think that they're like us who are really heavy investors. Maybe like those who are enthusiastic and looking forward to learn. But not bad to try to see if we're close to this number. While the vision is good for this adoption but I don't think that it will be a priority bill if ever the requirement of that much signatures is done. They can always revert to the other "important" issues when they simply feel that it's a nuisance subject for them to legislate.

[Asiska02]

Do you think if a similar campaign were launched in your country, advocates there could manage to get 100,000 people to sign? Or is public interest in Bitcoin still too minor for that kind of constitutional change in your country?

It is actually surprising to see this bill not passed just because they couldn’t get 50,000 signatures to pass the bill to add bitcoin to reserve after about many months to get those signatures. This country has more than 9 million people with about 7 million+ being adults, does that mean that not even up to 1% of the people in that country supports bitcoin. This is kinda surprising and never thought a big country like this will have people with such mindset of not having trust for bitcoin exist. Do they fear voting or never liked the idea of making bitcoin a reserve. The result of this may be insignificant to the market, but hearing good news about bitcoin brings about more trust in the project in the future.

[Taskford]

I don't think that strategic decisions are managed by signatures, and a decision like adding an asset to the strategic reserve is a political decision that needs full support from the government and not just an exception. Therefore, I believe that the idea from the beginning was unreasonable and not serious.

Creating a Bitcoin strategic reserve is not been solely decided by one signature only. This require a wide backing of government and people.

Even if the idea for the creation of that reserve maybe look so unrealistic, this still give a signal that their government want something new and they are trying to include Bitcoins on their plans. They maybe fail on their first attempt for introducing this proposal.

But there's a chance that the climate will change especially if there's a changes of leadership and the one handling those offices maybe love to support Bitcoin and that time that reserve proposal might going to happen in future.

[mirakal]

I don't think that strategic decisions are managed by signatures, and a decision like adding an asset to the strategic reserve is a political decision that needs full support from the government and not just an exception. Therefore, I believe that the idea from the beginning was unreasonable and not serious.

I guess it also depends on the status of the country with regards to bitcoin association. It is known that Switzerland is one of the most crypto-friendly countries and people are actively embracing bitcoin. That probably leads to the idea that if they will conduct signature campaign and it succeeds, then the decision to adopt bitcoin as a national reserve asset will be finalized. Unfortunately, efforts to make SNB hold bitcoin have failed.

However, despite of this failure, the overall sentiment in Switzerland is that people are still seeing bitcoin as a safe haven, that could promote financial privacy, innovation and self-sovereignty.

[HelliumZ]

The decision that Bitcoin should be reserved by prioritizing public signatures seems absurd to me. It is natural that if the government in a country accepts Bitcoin as a reserve, the public will not oppose it.
Even if the public is not confident about the government's Bitcoin reserves, the government's steps will gradually be accepted by the public, because then the people of the country will be able to realize the benefits of Bitcoin reserves.
However, I believe that Switzerland will adopt Bitcoin as a reserve currency sooner or later like other countries in the world. Because various countries in the world have already adopted Bitcoin as their reserve currency, where citizens do not need to sign. In this case, Switzerland will also one day adopt Bitcoin as a reserve currency without citizens signing.

[stompix]

Well, another proof that all those numbers about hundreds of millions of crypto users are just rubbish.

According to different sources, Switzerland is credited with 2.5 to 4.5% so called Bitcoin owners, that would be something like 250k to 450k people.
Of course, highly possible that not all owners signed up for that, also the same possibility for some owners getting their friends and relatives to sing it despite them not owning a satoshi.

I sincerely doubt that the number of so-called Bitcoin users and owners are not inflated by at least one order of magnitude as we speak!

I do not think that the one who handles the signature campaign is serious.  I believe they just put the sheet there and let people look at it without anyone explaining how it works.

Wait a minute, you actually think this is done with pen and paper and a list being passed from guy to guy?   

[GreatArkansas]

(.....)
Do you think if a similar campaign were launched in your country, advocates there could manage to get 100,000 people to sign? Or is public interest in Bitcoin still too minor for that kind of constitutional change in your country?

If this is how easy it is to make Bitcoin a national reserve in our country, then this is very easy. But that's not how our government works, and for sure, officials in our government won't like this because by having this, our financial system for sure will start to adapt these such things that will make their corruption work be more difficult for them, our country is very known for corruption, that's why having Bitcoin as reserve or even blockchain or new techs like this will really help our country.

[Vaskiy]

Well, another proof that all those numbers about hundreds of millions of crypto users are just rubbish.

According to different sources, Switzerland is credited with 2.5 to 4.5% so called Bitcoin owners, that would be something like 250k to 450k people.
Of course, highly possible that not all owners signed up for that, also the same possibility for some owners getting their friends and relatives to sing it despite them not owning a satoshi.

I sincerely doubt that the number of so-called Bitcoin users and owners are not inflated by at least one order of magnitude as we speak!

I do not think that the one who handles the signature campaign is serious.  I believe they just put the sheet there and let people look at it without anyone explaining how it works.

Wait a minute, you actually think this is done with pen and paper and a list being passed from guy to guy?   

Based on the source Who are Switzerland’s crypto investors? it is known that more than 23% of the population already have cryptocurrency in their portfolio. This was way back in 2024 almost 20 months back. The campaign to collect signatures have begun 18 months back. The time frame looks close. This Survey was taken among 6000 people and the sample looks good. 23% of Switzerland population goes close to 2 million. Among them they weren't able to collect 100k signatures. It is true that crypto adoption is happening, but in a much slower phase.

[d5000]

Bitcoin is supposed to be a decentralized cryptocurrency and it's sad to see people who want it stored in central bank vaults.

Finally a real Bitcoiner Bitcoin is for the people, not for the State!

You can even see a strategic reserve as a kind of Trojan Horse: The state wants to hold the Bitcoins which normally should belong to you -- to continue to scam you with fiat and money printing

It's short-sighted to beg the State to buy your Bitcoins for your profit. The State (and alliances of governments/central banks) can do horrible things with that power (imagine a FATF Bitcoin Alliance). It's better if every citizen of the world held 10,000 satoshis for example. That's an amount everybody could afford, above all if they're bought in bear markets and crypto winters.

Unfortunately, I think strategic Bitcoin reserves are kinda inevitable at this stage. But I applaud all countries who decide against it - and instead facilitate acquisition of Bitcoin by their citizens instead

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Bitcoin is was supposed to be a decentralized cryptocurrency and it's sad to see people who want it stored in central bank vaults.

Finally a real Bitcoiner Bitcoin is for the people, not for the State!

I have taken the liberty of tweaking the quoted sentence to make it more realistic. The problem is that bitcoin, which was initially held only by individuals, has increasingly ended up in the hands of centralised entities, and that is because people have sold it without a second thought for profit. Now there is no turning back; the bitcoin held by ETFs or certain states or companies is not going to return to private individuals. Rather than wondering what the world would be like if it were not as it is, it is better to adapt to the way it is. And in that world, there is still a place for Bitcoin used by individuals and in peer-to-peer transactions, but it is very small.

[legiteum]

I have taken the liberty of tweaking the quoted sentence to make it more realistic. The problem is that bitcoin, which was initially held only by individuals, has increasingly ended up in the hands of centralised entities, and that is because people have sold it without a second thought for profit. Now there is no turning back; the bitcoin held by ETFs or certain states or companies is not going to return to private individuals. Rather than wondering what the world would be like if it were not as it is, it is better to adapt to the way it is. And in that world, there is still a place for Bitcoin used by individuals and in peer-to-peer transactions, but it is very small.

The original usage of Bitcoin has been taken over by Monero and things like it. Today Bitcoin is meme investment instrument and nothing more, and things like custody don't matter. The community begging for government intervention to make their number go up like in this thread this is just another example.

I recently floated the idea of the core team changing Bitcoin's architecture to use a small set of tightly coupled, fully trusted nodes and dropping PoW processing for every transaction, thus making it fast enough to handle mainstream transaction loads. In other words, "centralizing Bitcoin". Posting this idea here in this forum should have been like suggesting an allegiance to Satan in at vaticantalk.org, but perhaps half of responses agreed with the premise. It's just a matter of time before all of the "old religion" of Bitcoin dies away and it just becomes about the money and nothing else. It happened to Christmas and it will happen to Bitcoin .

[bitbollo]

I am not surprised at all because behind such kind of initiatives there are many factors involved.
It could be appear as controversial, Switzerland has been alwyas on top front on btc adoption and this is well known... but at a certain point, a bitcoin reserve could be seen as an early activity even for them...

I would not be favorable in my country to have such initiative since could be use as "weapon" to drain resources from public spent or just a way for "stoling" public funds...
 

[ContentWriter]

I wouldn't say I'm surprised that the Swiss are largely non-chalant towards Bitcoin considering their country's legacy of attachment towards traditional banking. It is apparent that even the younger generation isn't yet completely weaned from their country's reputation as a hub for traditional financial system. It therefore would be surprising if the SNB never sought the opinion of the general public before pushing for the adoptiion of BTC as a part of their reserve portfolio. I can bet that they're inclined to preserve the traditional institutions that have favcored their country for over a century. This is similar to what the United States is doing with USD and its inclination towards preserving the American dollar as a reserve currency.

However, I hardly see this as an issue since Bitcoin adoption is moving at a pace that many never anticipated even 5 years ago. The industry has clearly made progress, especially from the enforcement-focused regulation that nearly stifled growth and investor interest not long ago.

[Hazink]

Their loss, because there will be two kinds of people, one with regret and the other with Bitcoins. They chose to be in regret. It is not bearish news, if anyone thinks that it is, because so far Bitcoin does not need SNB's support and it can do better even without them.

Bitcoin could do better without it, just as it could do better without bitcoin. Then adding it as part of a reserve is not really that important, as that could have pushed for stricter regulations in the country for crypto. Currently, as bitcoin is legal and allowed to be owned and used are is better if you ask me as long as there is no restriction.

Do you think if a similar campaign were launched in your country, advocates there could manage to get 100,000 people to sign? Or is public interest in Bitcoin still too minor for that kind of constitutional change in your country?

In my country, that might pass, depending on what is raising the motion, there are people in politics who whatever they put their hand in, they have more supporters than every other person, and they could easily use their influence to persuade executives to sign that, but when they are against a rule, that could also come on a different part.

[FinneysTrueVision]

Based on the source Who are Switzerland’s crypto investors? it is known that more than 23% of the population already have cryptocurrency in their portfolio. This was way back in 2024 almost 20 months back. The campaign to collect signatures have begun 18 months back. The time frame looks close. This Survey was taken among 6000 people and the sample looks good. 23% of Switzerland population goes close to 2 million. Among them they weren't able to collect 100k signatures. It is true that crypto adoption is happening, but in a much slower phase.

That is probably including all the people that have exposure to paper Bitcoin. Being an investor through an ETF or something similar doesn’t necessarily mean that they have a good understanding of bitcoin. It also doesn’t mean that investing in Bitcoin would make somebody favor using taxpayer money to fund Bitcoin purchases.

These online surveys should also be taken with a grain of salt. The first part of the article says they interviewed 6,000 people total in Switzerland, Austria, Germany,
France, Italy. That’s a very small sample size for a region with a combined population of hundreds of millions of people.

[Accardo]

Could this be more straight forward, does the signature require the inscription of the Legislatures or the general public? The follow ups on the thread is diverse, and makes it sound like bitcoin can't get 100,000 signatures from all the people in Switzerland. Things like this have to go through the legislative body then the Judiciary, before the bill is passed to law. If that's the case it'll be hard to get up to 100k signatures on adopting bitcoin as reserves in space of 18 months.

[GhostOfBitcoin]

That is probably including all the people that have exposure to paper Bitcoin. Being an investor through an ETF or something similar doesn’t necessarily mean that they have a good understanding of bitcoin. It also doesn’t mean that investing in Bitcoin would make somebody favor using taxpayer money to fund Bitcoin purchases.

Yes, I agree. Currently, many mainstream media outlets are assuming that Bitcoin is gaining widespread acceptance due to the popularity of ETFs or paper Bitcoin. Most of those who are coming through ETFs are just coming for price action or profit. They have very limited understanding of the core principles of Bitcoin namely, self-custody and Decentralization. ETFs are essentially a traditional financial product, which is the exact opposite of Bitcoin's Be your own bank philosophy.

These online surveys should also be taken with a grain of salt. The first part of the article says they interviewed 6,000 people total in Switzerland, Austria, Germany,
France, Italy. That’s a very small sample size for a region with a combined population of hundreds of millions of people.

Representing millions of people in 5-6 developed countries in Europe(Switzerland, Austria, Germany,
France, Italy) based on just 6,000 interviews is statistically weak. It is impossible to understand the sentiment of the entire region with the opinions of such a small number of people on a volatile and technological topic like crypto. Such online surveys often have selection bias.

We should not just get excited about the numbers but rather emphasize real Bitcoin education so that people can understand the difference between paper Bitcoin and real Bitcoin.

[Synchronice]

He said, get 100,000 signatures and we will trigger the constitutional referendum, but after an effort of 18 months, they were only able to get 50,000 signatures, and now they have hit the wall and won't be adding Bitcoin to their reserves.

Too bad for Switzerland that they couldn't adopt Bitcoin as reserves. One of the most highly developed country in the world, where lots of businesses save their finances, a country which is a world-leading financial center, particularly renowned for wealth management, banking, and insurance, should be the most progressive country and should not even be thinking about Bitcoin reserves, it should have been accepted without a blink of an eye.

100000? Try in countries like India and China and you would see the signatures piling up in just a couple of days, but their governments aren't dumb enough to allow something like that since they wanna keep hoarding more and more power for themselves.

The SNB are busy storing black money for elites globally and have no time to focus on adding BTC as a reserve asset.

Definitely, the way OP named that number for every country is wrong because it should be proportionate to the number of the population of the country. Switzerland has the population of 9 Million people, Germany has the population of 80 Million people. Both countries are developed countries. Of course, Germany can 10 times easily get those numbers compared to Switzerland, so this number (100K) is not fair for both countries.

[Darker45]

It's unfortunate that they failed to gather 100,000 signatures, but the organizers knew all along that it was a difficult number to reach. The latter, to me, is a bit surprising. All the while I thought Bitcoin is already quite popular in Switzerland. I've heard of how Lugano, for example, attempts to create a Bitcoin circular economy, accepting taxes and fines in Bitcoin, with hundreds of businesses accepting it as payment as well. Why was it then difficult to gather 100,000 signatures? Or is it because Bitcoin isn't actually that popular yet on the ground, contrary to how some news would like to present it?

[HONDACD125]

Do you think if a similar campaign were launched in your country, advocates there could manage to get 100,000 people to sign? Or is public interest in Bitcoin still too minor for that kind of constitutional change in your country?

Lol, they can get that much easily within the youth of my our country, because almost 7 out of 10 people from our youth are already into these things, because they are mostly into things such as freelancing and online jobs, so they are always looking for ways that can make things easy for them like receiving payments from their international clients, which can't be easier than asking them to buy and send bitcoins or cryptocurrencies, because it makes the process extremely easy, and they don't have to go through all the hassle that banks put them through when they receive funds from outside the country.

I'm surprised how they couldn't get even 100k signatures in a country like Switzerland, because I used to think that people in Switzerland are already very familiar with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, because I have heard about stories of people buying and selling properties and cars and other stuff using Bitcoin in that country. It is possible that maybe they didn't target the correct places or the correct people for this, because I'm sure it's not possible for them to not get 100k signatures within a country who would want Bitcoin to become one of the reserves of their country.