The experiment will focus on the bank-to-bank 'wholesale' lending market rather than everyday public transactions but will be the first time a digital EUR and CHF (Swiss franc) have been fully tested.
Switzerland's UBS Credit Suisse, and France's Natixis are involved in the project, along with Swiss bourse operator SIX Digital Exchange, fintech firm R3 and the Innovation Hub at the Bank for International Settlements.
It is the Bank of France's latest CBDC pilot. In April, it 'settled' - or made payments on - digital bonds issued by the European Investment Bank using blockchain technology. The collaboration between the two central banks has been dubbed Jura, after the mountain range which separates Switzerland and France.
It will involve the exchange of a euro wholesale CBDC against a Swiss franc wholesale CBDC through a payment versus payment settlement mechanism. These transactions will be settled between banks based in France and Switzerland.
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