Czech Central Bank Holds Bitcoin Market in Suspense With Its Vague Announcement

After today's meeting, the Czech National Bank (CNB) left the door open to a potentially groundbreaking decision to invest billions of euros in bitcoin (BTC).
The CNB, which has been increasingly diversifying its investments, confirmed that it has "approved a proposal to analyze the options for investing in additional asset classes."
The bank noted that the next steps will be determined based on the results of the analysis of the proposal by Governor Aleš Michl.
While the statement didn't mention BTC specifically, the CNB has been in the spotlight of the BTC and the broader crypto asset market since yesterday, when The Financial Times (FT) published an interview with Michl, in which he stated that he wants the CNB to buy billions of euros in BTC.
While Michl didn't elaborate on today's decision—only copying and pasting the bank's announcement—yesterday, he posted on X that BTC "currently has zero correlation to bonds and is an interesting asset for a large portfolio. Worth considering."
The governor also hinted yesterday that the market shouldn't expect a concrete decision today, as the proposal is "only at the stage of analysis and discussion" and that "thoughtful analysis is needed."
"Bitcoin has significant volatility, which makes it harder to take advantage of its current low correlation with other assets. That’s why I will ask our team on Thursday to further assess Bitcoin’s potential role in our reserves. Nothing more, nothing less," Michl explained on Wednesday.
While the news was welcomed by many BTC investors, the idea faced pushback at both the national and European levels.
For example, Czech Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura warned against the idea of investing up to 5% of the CNB’s reserves in BTC, saying that the central bank should focus on stability, while BTC is not a stable asset.
However, the FT article cited calculations by the CNB, stating that if the bank had held 5% of its foreign reserves in BTC over the past decade, its annual returns would have increased by 3.5 percentage points while also doubling in volatility.
Meanwhile, Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank—which oversees the euro and has authority only over central banks in the eurozone, which the CNB is not part of—has also chimed in.
"I am confident that ... bitcoins won't enter the reserves of any of the central banks of the General Council," she said.
Meanwhile, bitcoiners have a suggestion for Michl. "If Christine Lagarde gives you a call—DON'T PICK UP!" X user ash2ash quipped.