Swiss National Bank Launches Wholesale CBDC Pilot Program: Report

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is reportedly rolling out a new “wholesale” central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot program.

While speaking at a financial conference in Zurich on Monday, SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan said the bank plans to kick off the pilot on Switzerland’s SIX digital exchange soon, according to a report from Reuters.

“This is not just an experiment, it will be real money equivalent to bank reserves and the objective is to test real transactions with market participants.”

The program will reportedly only involve wholesale CBDCs, which are restricted to large transactions between financial institutions.

Jordan says he still has some concerns about retail CBDCs, which are the type that would be accessible to the general public.

The chairman says he’s worried about their potential impact on the financial system.

“We do not exclude that we will never introduce retail [CBDCs] but nevertheless we are a little bit prudent at the moment.”

Reuters also reports that Andréa M. Maechler, an outgoing member of SNB’s governing board, said in a separate panel that cash will remain a mainstay of the Swiss financial system.

“It is the one way that retail households can hold central bank money. That feature needs to be maintained irrespective of the technology.”

 

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