According to the Czech Republic's central bank governor, Alex Michl, incorporating bitcoin into the institution's reserves could potentially enhance performance due to its low correlation with traditional assets. However, Michl emphasized the cryptocurrency's volatility as a major concern, stating that its value could theoretically plummet to zero. Michl's remarks were made during a speech at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, where he noted that while all assets carry the risk of losing their value, the unpredictability of bitcoin makes it unwise to stake a significant portion of the bank's portfolio on it. The Czech National Bank had purchased $1 million in bitcoin in November as part of a test portfolio, which also included a USD stablecoin and a tokenized deposit, in an effort to gain hands-on experience with blockchain-based assets.
The study revealed that bitcoin's returns are not closely tied to those of other assets, making it a potentially valuable addition to a portfolio, but the bank's Board ultimately decided against investing its foreign exchange reserves in the cryptocurrency due to the associated risks.