The initiative for a Swiss franc stablecoin, launched in April by UBS, Postfinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank and Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, is expanding further. According to a statement issued on Tuesday, SIX and Twint have now also joined the initiative, bringing «additional expertise in the areas of financial market infrastructure and digital payment solutions».

The stablecoin in question is CHFD, which is pegged one-to-one to the Swiss franc and has been live since the end of June. The corresponding platform is operated by CHFD Infrastruktur AG, a subsidiary of Swiss Stablecoin.

The nine partners have also launched the testing phase, during which use cases for a Swiss franc stablecoin will be examined in a protected live digital environment, known as a sandbox. The initiative aims to generate insights for the further development of Switzerland’s digital money ecosystem and strengthen the competitiveness of the Swiss financial centre.

Focus on Programmable Payments

Until the end of 2026, the sandbox will test not only applications that are already established internationally, such as automated transactions between financial institutions and tokenised settlement of digital assets, but also innovative use cases in the area of programmable payments.

«For example, the initiative will examine whether and how programmability can be used to reduce the risk of fraud on online marketplaces, promote fair access to event tickets and make the disbursement of public funds more efficient,» the statement specifies.