A Swiss franc stablecoin initiative led by UBS has entered live testing and added SIX and TWINT as partners.
The tests centre on CHFD, a Swiss franc stablecoin that has been technically live in a sandbox environment since late June 2026 and is designed to maintain a one-to-one peg to the Swiss franc. According to the bank's statement, the scheme is intended to generate insights for the further development of Switzerland's digital money ecosystem and to strengthen the competitiveness of the country's financial centre.
The addition of SIX, which operates Switzerland's financial market infrastructure, and TWINT, a widely used domestic payment app, extends the pilot beyond its initial group of banking participants. Their involvement points to testing that spans both market infrastructure and consumer-facing payment rails, rather than being limited to interbank settlement use cases.
Expanding a bank-led consortium
UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, ZKB, and BCV initially joined forces in April 2026 to examine potential uses for a franc-pegged stablecoin in Switzerland. That collaboration formed as banks respond to the expansion of the stablecoin market and the broader growth of cryptocurrencies. With SIX and TWINT now included, the initiative brings together institutions spanning custody, retail banking, market infrastructure, and payments, widening the range of use cases that can be assessed during the testing phase.
Industry context
Stablecoins are a category of cryptocurrency designed to hold a constant value, typically backed by traditional currencies. Some lenders view them as potential competitors to existing payment and settlement systems, which has increased pressure on banks to identify practical applications for blockchain technology within their own operations. A bank-led, franc-denominated stablecoin project reflects an attempt by incumbent financial institutions in Switzerland to shape how such instruments are developed and used domestically, rather than leaving the space to independent crypto issuers.
The move follows a broader pattern seen across Europe, where banks and market infrastructure providers have been exploring tokenised deposits and stablecoins as a response to dollar-denominated stablecoins gaining traction internationally. For Switzerland, a jurisdiction with an established banking sector and a developed digital assets framework, the CHFD pilot represents a coordinated effort to test a domestic alternative under the participation of established financial institutions rather than external issuers.
No details on a public launch date, regulatory approval process, or commercial rollout plan were disclosed in the statement. The initiative remains in a testing phase, with the current expansion of partners representing an incremental step rather than a move to production use.
