European Central Bank ‘very unlikely ever to buy bitcoin’: Board member

Several central banks hold gold, but Europe’s won’t be buying“digital gold” anytime soon

article-image

travelview/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

A potential spot bitcoin ETF would expose more traditional investors to the flagship cryptocurrency, but there’s one buyer they can rule out: the European Central Bank. 

ECB executive board member Isabel Schnabel wrote in a Wednesday morning Q&A on X that the bank “is very unlikely to ever buy Bitcoin” after being asked whether the ECB would acquire the asset for its balance sheet.  

The European Central Bank is tasked with controlling monetary conditions in the bloc of European Union countries that use the euro. Its US equivalent would be the Jerome Powell-led Federal Reserve.

Read more: Bitcoin ETF war enters end game: BlackRock, Ark cut planned fees

Schnabel was nominated by the German government to serve on the ECB’s executive board in 2019. The executive board is a six-person committee responsible for implementing monetary policy based on guidance given by the ECB’s governing council.

Schnabel has been known for hawkish views on interest rate hikes during Europe’s battle with inflation, though she recently reversed course on the subject.

Schnabel is the latest in a succession of ECB board members to speak publicly about crypto. Elizabeth McCaul and Fabio Panetta both called for tougher regulation on cryptocurrencies and exchanges last year. 

The ECB is among a slew of central banks exploring a central bank digital currency (CBDC), a digitized version of a fiat currency. The ECB is still in a “preparation phase” for its digital euro. Crypto boosters tend to pan CBDCs — which are regulated by central banks and may run on permissioned blockchains. 

Multiple European central banks have notable gold reserves on their balance sheets, with some purchasing more of the commodity in recent years. But central banks have been slow on the uptake of bitcoin, which some cast as a digital equivalent to gold. 

Even with a spot bitcoin ETF on the horizon, this seems unlikely to change, at least for now. Schnabel’s post drew ire from online bitcoin fans.

“This post will age terribly,” one X user wrote in response.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template.png

Research

The march toward an interoperable and onchain-by-default internet depends on reliable messaging and value transfer across heterogeneous domains. Crosschain protocols now process >$1.3T in combined annual transfer volume and secure tens of millions of user interactions, yet no single design dominates.

article-image

Partnership deal centers USDC inside safe’s smart-account stack, tightening rails from onboarding to treasury and DeFi access

article-image

Partnership enables S&P’s stablecoin stability data to flow directly into DeFi systems via Chainlink

by Blockworks /
article-image

Industry executives weigh in on last week’s “stress test” and the importance of stablecoins

article-image

Eigen Labs’ J.T. Rose pitched verifiable off-chain compute with agentic AI coming to Ethereum

article-image

The block appears to have been ongoing for over eight months

article-image

Coinbase and Mastercard’s BVNK bids illustrate how hot the stablecoin acquisition space has become