Six Swiss banks have joined forces with Swiss Stablecoin AG to test a stablecoin pegged to the Swiss franc. UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank and BCV announced the initiative on April 8.
The sandbox runs on Ethereum using ERC-20 and will operate throughout 2026.
There is no stable currency for the Swiss franc yet
Stablecoins It has rapidly grown in international importance, but the market is still dominated by tokens linked to the US dollar such as USDT and USDC. Switzerland currently lacks a regulated Swiss franc stablecoin with widespread application. The Protection Fund aims to address this gap.
Participating institutions will test selected use cases in a controlled live environment with specific safeguards, including transaction limits and a restricted pool of participants. Swiss Stablecoin AG provides the technical infrastructure for issuing the stablecoin.
Two systemically important banks are involved
The consortium includes two of the four systemically important banks in Switzerland: UBS and the Raiffeisen Group. A mix of traditional banking institutions like UBS and Raiffeisen along with digital-first players We suck This indicates that the Swiss financial institution takes stablecoin infrastructure seriously.
Many participants are not new to token financing. UBS, BCV, Raiffeisen Switzerland and Zürcher Kantonalbank have already participated in the Swiss National Bank’s Project Helvetia pilot, which tested the wholesale sale of CBDCs on six digital settlement exchanges. The new sandbox is a private test of the stablecoin and not a central bank project, but the operational experience continues.
Stablecoin Sandbox is open to additional participants
The sandbox remains open to other interested banks, companies and institutions. This positions the project as a framework that can be expanded rather than a closed pilot project. The focus is on building a Swiss digital money ecosystem, developing capabilities in digital payments, and gaining practical insights into the industry.
This initiative follows similar efforts in Europe. A consortium of 12 banks, including BBVA, ING and UniCredit, has announced Qivalis, a digital stablecoin for the euro scheduled to launch in the second half of 2026. A separate group of 10 banks, including Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and UBS, is also exploring issuing stablecoins.
What does this mean for Switzerland?
The Sandbox represents the largest multi-bank collaboration in Switzerland in digital finance infrastructure. While MiCA-compliant CHF stablecoins like AllUnity’s CHFAU already exist, the Swiss banking consortium is aiming for the institutional settlement layer.
Testing continues until 2026. An interim report is expected in the second half of the year. For the broader market, the terms of access and specific use cases remain undisclosed. For the banks and tokenization platforms monitoring the Swiss stablecoin infrastructure, this is the first live multi-bank test of its kind in the country.
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