Key Highlights
- Aleš Michl argued for Bitcoin as part of central bank reserve diversification.
- CNB research found Bitcoin may improve returns because of low correlation with other assets.
- Trezor CFO Štěpán Uherík said other central banks may no longer be able to ignore the findings.
Czech National Bank Governor Aleš Michl used his Bitcoin 2026 keynote in Las Vegas to make the case for adding Bitcoin to central bank reserve portfolios, marking a rare public endorsement of the asset from a sitting central bank chief.
“Central bank and Bitcoin — most people do not put these two things together. I do,” Michl told the audience.
Michl said the Czech National Bank manages about $180 billion in reserves, equal to roughly 44% of the country’s gross domestic product, and argued that future reserve strategy requires looking beyond traditional assets. His remarks build on earlier CNB research examining gold and Bitcoin in foreign exchange reserves.
According to the material shared from the keynote, Michl said a CNB study found that a 1% Bitcoin allocation could increase expected portfolio returns while keeping overall risk roughly unchanged, mainly because of Bitcoin’s low correlation with other reserve assets. “This is the future,” he said.
The remarks directly challenge the more cautious view from European policymakers. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde previously said reserves must be liquid, secure and safe, and dismissed the idea of Bitcoin in European central banking.
Trezor CFO says central banks face new question
Štěpán Uherík, CFO of Trezor, responded from the Bitcoin 2026 conference floor, arguing that Michl’s remarks undercut the case against Bitcoin as a reserve asset.
“The ECB has argued that Bitcoin is not liquid, not secure, and not safe enough for reserves. Governor Michl just presented a study showing the opposite. Bitcoin trades around the clock with no counterparty risk. Its low correlation with traditional assets is exactly what makes it useful in a reserve portfolio. At some point the question stops being about Bitcoin’s readiness and starts being about whether other central banks can afford to ignore what the Czech National Bank has found.”
Uherík also linked Michl’s comments to the Czech Republic’s long-running Bitcoin ecosystem.
“The Czech Republic produced the first Bitcoin mining pool and the first hardware wallet — both created by the same founders, in Prague. Now it has the first central bank to buy Bitcoin. Governor Michl bought coffee with Bitcoin in Prague a decade ago. Trezor was founded in Prague a decade ago. This is not a coincidence. Prague has had a serious Bitcoin community since 2011, and the institutions are now catching up to what the builders understood years ago.”
“When a central bank governor stands in front of 40,000 people and says that 1% Bitcoin improves his portfolio, that is no longer a fringe position. That is a data-driven argument from someone who brought inflation from 20% to 2%. The question now for many people who hold Bitcoin is: where do they keep it? Most will leave it on an exchange. That is exactly the risk self-custody exists to solve, and it is why Trezor was built in Prague twelve years ago.”
From test portfolio to reserve debate
The Czech National Bank has already tested blockchain-based assets through a digital asset portfolio, including Bitcoin, though the bank said that test portfolio did not form part of its international reserves.
Michl’s latest remarks move the debate from experimentation to reserve theory. While the CNB has not announced a full reserve allocation to Bitcoin, the governor’s argument gives Bitcoin a more formal place in the central banking discussion, especially as global institutions continue debating whether the asset belongs beside gold, bonds and equities.
Also Read: Bitcoin 2026 Las Vegas: Regulators Shine While ‘Institutional Grift’ Debate Erupts
