PRAGUE - Bitcoin is not a suitable asset for central bank reserves, but it must be studied as a global phenomenon, and that is why the central bank is including it in an analysis of widening the potential scope of investments, Vice-Governor Eva Zamrazilova said.

Governor Ales Michl said in a Financial Times interview last month that he would propose allocating eventually as much as 5% of the bank's foreign exchange reserves in bitcoin, but he and the bank have since taken a more cautious approach.

The bank's seven-member board agreed to conduct an analysis of widening the asset base, without specifically mentioning bitcoin.

"We are requesting an analysis to look at investing in other asset classes. It is not just bitcoin, those are corporate bonds, real estate funds, NASDAQ, technological indices and the point is to map out the space," Zamrazilova said in a Sunday television debate.

"I do not consider bitcoin to be ideal, I do not consider it to be suitable, but I have to give it attention in some way because it is a global phenomenon as well as those other asset classes."

Zamrazilova said the central bank was becoming a regulator of crypto assets, which was another reason to pay attention to bitcoin in the analysis, which may be completed by around the end of August or September.

She said the board did not discuss potentially investing 5% of its reserves in bitcoin and that Michl used the number as "illustrative".

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka, Editing by Louise Heavens)