Key Takeaways
- Czech National Bank launches a $1 million digital asset experimental portfolio, including Bitcoin.
- Previous proposal for a national Bitcoin reserve faced resistance from the ECB and internal bodies.
- Surprise investment of $18 million in Coinbase Global shares, driven by S&P 500 index replication strategy.
- Czech Republic adopts a cautious yet open approach to cryptocurrency regulation, emphasizing investor protection and EU framework compliance.
Czech National Bank Enters the Crypto Arena
In a surprising move, the Czech National Bank (CNB) announced the purchase of $1 million worth of digital assets to form a "digital asset experimental portfolio" in November 2025. This marks the Czech central bank's entry into the world of cryptocurrencies, albeit on a relatively small scale.
Details of the Experimental Portfolio
The experimental portfolio consists mainly of Bitcoin, along with some stablecoins pegged to the US dollar and a tokenized bank deposit. All assets were purchased through regulated trading platforms. The central bank emphasized that this move is purely experimental and does not count towards its official foreign exchange reserves, and is classified as intangible assets for accounting purposes. The experimental investment also accounts for only 0.0006% of the central bank's total assets, and does not represent any investment recommendation or official position on crypto assets.
According to a statement from the Czech National Bank, the purpose of this experiment is to gain practical experience in holding digital assets and testing related processes. The central bank team will train itself on a complete chain of processes, from private key custody, multi-level approval, security mechanisms to anti-money laundering compliance, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of digital asset management. The entire investment will be separated from the central bank's traditional reserves, and will not be proactively expanded before the experiment evaluation is completed. According to the plan, the Czech National Bank will evaluate the impact of the project after two to three years, and then decide on the next step. During this period, the value of the portfolio will change with market fluctuations or small experimental transactions.
"As a central bank, we want to test this path," said Czech National Bank Governor Aleš Michl. He pointed out that emerging payment and investment methods are constantly emerging, and the central bank hopes to prepare in advance. He envisions that in the future, people can easily use Czech crowns to purchase assets such as tokenized government bonds, just as "you can buy coffee with one click, and invest in assets that only large investors could access with another click".
National Bitcoin Reserve Proposal Faces Resistance
In fact, shortly before the official launch of the experimental portfolio, the Czech Republic held a discussion that aroused widespread interest around the "National Bitcoin Reserve." At the beginning of this year, Aleš Michl publicly stated that he would consider holding Bitcoin in foreign exchange reserves, with an initial idea to allocate up to 5% of Bitcoin assets equivalent to foreign reserves, worth up to 7 billion euros. However, this proposal immediately triggered disputes and questions from various parties. Within the Czech Republic and within the central bank, opinions were not unified, and opposing voices mainly focused on the high risks associated with Bitcoin.
Jan Kubicek, a member of the Czech National Bank's board, expressed "skepticism" about including Bitcoin in the bank's huge reserve assets, mainly due to concerns about legal uncertainty and the volatility of digital currencies. Czech Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura also publicly expressed his concern about this measure, although he respected the independence of the central bank. He warned that Bitcoin prices fluctuate violently, "the central bank should symbolize stability, and Bitcoin is certainly not a stable asset".
On a broader European scale, the European Central Bank (ECB) has unequivocally expressed its opposition. At a press conference at the end of January, ECB President Christine Lagarde directly poured cold water by saying that she had spoken with Michl and believed that central banks in EU member states would not include Bitcoin in their reserves. Lagarde emphasized that the central bank's reserve assets should be "highly liquid, reliable and safe," and does not believe that cryptocurrencies meet these requirements. Although the Czech Republic is not part of the Eurozone, its central bank is part of the European Central Bank system, and this strong statement serves as a red light for the Czech Bitcoin reserve plan.
Under dual internal and external pressure, the Czech National Bank's board announced that it agreed to analyze and evaluate whether the new asset class, including Bitcoin, is suitable as a reserve, but will not implement any changes in this regard until the research is completed. The central bank's official statement did not directly mention the word "Bitcoin", but in principle agreed to evaluate wider options for reserve diversification. The proposal to establish a national Bitcoin reserve was shelved, making it unlikely to be implemented in the short term. Even though there are officials such as Aleš Michl in the Czech Republic pushing for the inclusion of crypto assets in the reserves, the pressure from the European Central Bank system and cautious voices within the government make it difficult for such breakthrough measures to be implemented quickly. However, Michl's force has not given up "lobbying", and he still insists on standing up for Bitcoin. When the meme craze triggered many negative evaluations, Michl bluntly said that the cryptocurrency market would experience "failure and success", but Bitcoin is significantly different from other crypto assets and should not be confused with cryptocurrencies.
Purchasing Coinbase Shares, Does the Czech National Bank Not Care About its "Crypto Concept"?
Since 2022, the Czech National Bank has gradually increased the proportion of gold and stocks in its official reserves in search of more solid long-term returns, which is also one of the diversification strategies adopted by Michl after taking office. After the failure of the Bitcoin reserve plan, the Czech National Bank unexpectedly allocated "crypto stocks" in its risk exposure - in the second quarter of this year, the Czech National Bank established its first position in Coinbase Global, spending approximately US$18 million to purchase 51,732 shares, with an average cost price of approximately US$350. In the second quarter, the Coinbase stock price rose sharply, rising from a low of approximately US$142 per share all the way, reaching above US$350 at the end of June, with an increase exceeding all mainstream cryptocurrencies. During this period, the overall market of the cryptocurrency industry was still in a slump, and the "take-off" of the Ethereum reserve plan of listed companies was still brewing. However, the Czech National Bank's willingness to purchase Coinbase shares does not seem to be related to its "cryptocurrency" attribute, and no in-depth analysis or research has been conducted on this. In response to Barron's, although it did not comment on the purchase, it actually revealed the motivation behind it - the Czech National Bank said that its passive index replication strategy has not changed. In 2023, in a blog post, the Czech National Bank stated that it has stated many times that "the investment method is passive stock index replication." Its investment in the U.S. market is linked to the S&P 500 index, and strives to replicate the structure of the S&P 500 index to the greatest extent, and accurately copy the weights of each stock in the index. Therefore, the Czech National Bank's purchase of Coinbase shares is clearly due to the fact that the company made history in May of this year, becoming the first cryptocurrency native company to be included in the S&P 500 index.
Czech Supervision is Cautious and Open
At the regulatory policy level, the Czech Republic has shown a cautious and open attitude towards the cryptocurrency industry in recent years. On the one hand, the government and the central bank clearly recognize the risks of crypto assets, emphasizing investor protection and preventing systemic risks; on the other hand, they actively respond to the EU's unified regulatory framework and update their domestic laws to support the compliant development of the crypto industry. At the end of 2024, the Czech Parliament overwhelmingly passed the "Financial Market Digitalization Act", which was officially signed into law by President Petr Pavel in February 2025. This law includes exempting capital gains from long-term holding of cryptocurrencies for individuals, establishing a "small transaction exemption from reporting" threshold of CZK 100,000 per year (approximately US$4,100), clearly granting cryptocurrency companies and investors the right to open bank accounts without discrimination, and integrating the EU's "Regulation of Crypto Asset Markets (MiCA)" into the Czech legal system. In addition to regulatory rules, the Czech Republic has also taken actions in crypto infrastructure and industry cultivation. The central bank's CNB Innovation Lab (CNB Lab) is a platform to support financial technology exploration, and this digital asset experimental portfolio was born in this innovation center. At the same time, the government supports industry organizations and think tanks to study the potential of the cryptocurrency industry. In specific supervision practices, the Czech National Bank and related institutions still adhere to sound principles. The CNB has repeatedly emphasized the high-risk nature of crypto assets. For example, when announcing this experimental investment portfolio, the central bank emphasized that Bitcoin is highly volatile, and prices may rise sharply but may also fall to zero in extreme cases, and said that this experimental investment portfolio does not represent any form of investment advice it provides. In addition, the Czech National Bank also pointed out that supervision cannot avoid all crashes and fraud, and some plans and funds may encounter difficulties or fail in the future. "Therefore, even if the provider is licensed by the CNB or other European regulatory agencies, people should be aware of the risks associated with these assets.".
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