The result of the digital Swiss Franc trial is that the experiment was successful, but further work is needed. Project Helvetia was launched by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in collaboration with BIS’ Innovation Hub and Swiss stock exchange operator SIX.
The Swiss stock exchange is readying to launch the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), which uses distributed ledger technology (DLT). As a result, the Swiss National Bank launched a trial with SIX and the BIS to explore the potential for a wholesale CBDC so that payments for digital assets could be settled instantly, or delivery versus payment (DvP).
The proof of concept involved two options, the wholesale CBDC (w-CBDC) and connecting the DLT to the real-time gross settlement system (RTGS). In Switzerland, the RTGS called SIC, is operated by a SIX subsidiary on behalf of the central bank.
SIX has confirmed to Ledger Insights that there will be an SDX coin backed by SIX balances held at the Swiss National Bank. As representatives from SIX said, the SDX coin will be funded one-to-one by participants’ SIC balances but will be a liability of SDX (commercial money). There will be a connection to the existing Swiss RTGS system operated by SIC to perform the tokenisation/detokenisation of SDX coins.
In the future the project aims to explore more questions such as integration with core banking systems. And it also wants to look at using the w-CBDC across borders.
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