Czech central bank tests Bitcoin with $1 million "test portfolio"
The Czech National Bank (CNB) has launched a small but symbolic experiment in digital assets, building a $1 million "test portfolio" that includes Bitcoin, a U.S. dollar stablecoin, and a tokenized bank deposit. The holdings are not part of the bank's official reserves, but they mark one of the clearest examples yet of a central bank working hands-on with crypto.
What did the CNB actually do? In its announcement, the Czech National Bank explained that it has created a small portfolio of digital assets using real money from its own balance sheet. The total amount is around $1 million, which is tiny compared to the bank's overall assets, but enough to run a multi-year experiment. The test is housed in a special structure separate from traditional foreign-exchange reserves and gold holdings.
The bank describes the project as part of its innovation agenda. Instead of only reading reports or running simulations, the CNB wants to learn how crypto works by actually buying, holding, and managing it under real-world conditions, including security controls and regulatory obligations.
What is inside the CNB "test portfolio"?
The CNB says the portfolio is built to reflect three major building blocks of the new digital asset landscape: native crypto, tokenized traditional finance, and stable value instruments.
- Bitcoin (BTC): the main position, used to understand custody, volatility, and market liquidity for a non-sovereign asset.
- USD stablecoin: a token that tracks the U.S. dollar, useful for testing payments, transfers, and on-chain settlement flows.
- Tokenized bank deposit: a traditional bank deposit represented on a blockchain, bridging classic banking infrastructure with newer rails.
All positions were purchased through a regulated platform and held under strict internal rules. The bank emphasizes that no single provider should become a critical dependence for its experiments.
Why run a test portfolio at all? Central banks face growing pressure to understand how crypto and tokenized assets work in practice. The CNB notes that people may one day invest and pay using digital assets as easily as they tap a card today. By running a contained experiment, the bank can test everything from wallet management and internal approvals to risk models and accounting treatment, without committing to full-scale adoption.
The project is expected to run for two to three years. During that time, the CNB may rebalance within the test basket, but it does not plan to inject substantially more capital. At the end of the pilot, the bank will evaluate what it learned and how those lessons might influence its long-term strategy on digital assets and payments.
How small is this compared to real reserves?
The $1 million test portfolio represents just 0.0006% of the CNB's total assets — visually closer to a single bar of gold next to a vault wall than to a major strategic allocation. This tiny scale is intentional: it lets the central bank study operational, legal, and market risks without affecting its core reserve strategy.
Is this Bitcoin as a reserve asset? For now, the answer is still no. The CNB stresses that the experiment does not change its official reserve policy and that Bitcoin remains, in its view, an immature asset class for reserves. The bank also points out that, under current rules, it could gain exposure to BTC indirectly through regulated investment products such as exchange-traded funds if it ever chose to do so.
Earlier this year, CNB governor Aleš Michl floated the idea that central banks should at least study Bitcoin seriously. However, the European Central Bank has repeatedly signaled skepticism about using BTC as a reserve asset. By placing its experiment outside formal reserves, the CNB stays within the European framework while still gathering first-hand experience.
What this means for Bitcoin and crypto: Even though the number is small, the message is clear: major public institutions are moving from "Should we ignore this?" to "We need to understand this in detail." For the crypto industry, it is a reminder that the next phase of adoption may come less from sudden big purchases and more from slow, careful experiments like this one.
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