UBS, Sygnum, PostFinance, and four other Swiss financial institutions have jointly launched a sandbox project to explore real-world use cases for a regulated Swiss franc (CHF) stablecoin. In addition to the three aforementioned firms, the project includes Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV), and Swiss Stablecoin AG.
The sandbox project is scheduled to run until 2026 and remains open to other banks and institutions interested in developing CHF-backed stablecoins. In a statement, Sygnum noted that the initiative is designed to create a controlled, real-time testing environment, allowing financial institutions to evaluate the performance of digital financial products under clearly defined safeguards, such as transaction limits and restricted participant pools.
Exploring a New Paradigm for Digital Payments
Through this pilot, the participating institutions aim to support the growth of the Swiss digital currency ecosystem and gain operational experience with blockchain-based payments. The partners hope to gain deeper insights into the utility of emerging digital payment methods and lay the groundwork for the future deployment of a tokenized settlement layer for the Swiss franc.
Globally, stablecoin activity is seeing a significant surge. A research report released by Standard Chartered on March 31 indicated that the velocity of stablecoins has doubled over the past two years, with an average turnover of approximately six times per month. Geoffrey Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, projects that the total supply of stablecoins could reach $2 trillion by 2028.
Currently, the market for USD-pegged stablecoins has reached $298.5 billion. Tether’s USDT holds the largest share at approximately 62%, with a market capitalization of $184 billion, while Circle’s USDC follows in second place with a market cap of roughly $78 billion, accounting for about 26% of the market.