The Czech National Bank (CNB) has decided to get practical experience in holding digital assets. In a fresh development, the CNB has announced the allocation of $1 million into crypto assets including Bitcoin making its first formal engagement with the digital assets sector.
The ongoing stablecoin buzz has also captured CNB’s attention. In its announcement the bank said along with BTC, it will also be purchasing a USD stablecoin – without specifying which one.
“The aim was to test decentralised bitcoin from the central bank’s perspective and to evaluate its potential role in diversifying our reserves,” said CNB Governor Aleš Michl.
The decision to explore digital assets was first approved by the Bank Board on 30 October 2025 following a detailed analysis, the bank said. Its report showed that the digital assets landscape are evolving which nudged the CNB to gain practical experience in handling these assets.
The CNB, has however reiterated that it does not plan on including BTC or other crypto assets as part of its international reserves anytime soon.
Along with BTC and the USD-backed stablecoin, the Apex bank of the Czech republic is also investing a chunk of the million dollars into a tokenized deposit on the blockchain.
Explaining its decision the lender said, “It is realistic to expect that, in the future, it will be easy to use the koruna to buy tokenised Czech bonds and more besides – with one tap an espresso. As a central bank, we want to test this path.”
Without any plan of increasing the investment budget, the CNB said, it plans to hold these assets for around two to three years – after which, it would share the overall experience and observations around holding, using, auditing, and maintaining these assets with the public.
Notably, the move contradicts E.U. Central Bank President Christine Lagarde’s statement from January wherein she had expressed confidence that BTC would not enter the reserves of any European central banks.
Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, and Taiwan are among other countries that are integrating crypto with their existing treasury ecosystems.