The head of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has announced that the bank will launch a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) pilot project, according to a report. Reuters aforementioned Bank president Thomas Jordan said the project would start "soon."
The wCBDC will be issued on the Swiss digital exchange SIX and will run for a limited time, Jordan said at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich on June 26. The SIX Group also runs Switzerland largest stock market. Jordan said, according to the report:
"This is not just an experiment, it will be real money equivalent to bank reserves and the goal is to test real transactions with market participants."
Thomas Moser, SNB board member told Cointelegraph last year that CBDCs could work well with decentralized finance. the SNB integrated a wCBDC in the back-office systems of five banks early last year as part of its Project Helvetia, which had previously completed a proof of concept for wCBDCs.
That was a reversal of the position expressed a year earlier by SNB chief economist Carlos Lenz, who said blockchain was not suitable platform for CBDC, and the country had no intention of issuing one.
Related: The BIS joins the central banks of France and Switzerland in a cross-border CBDC project
Thomas said of retail CBDCs that "we're a bit cautious right now," but did not rule out their introduction.
Swiss National Bank (SNB) to Launch Digital Currency (CBDC) Pilot Program: SNB Chairman https://t.co/Kc7DKIYuSA through @Reuters pic.twitter.com/HG4ZSFGkW9
—Dan Popescu (@PopescuCo) June 26, 2023
SNB board member Andréa Maechler, speaking at a different Jordan event at the Point Zero Forum this year, said the central bank does not envision cash replacement in the country. maechler said last year that SNB officials “He believes that the risks outweigh the benefits” regarding a retail CBDC.
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