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Six Swiss banks — UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank and BCV — have joined Swiss Stablecoin AG in a sandbox to test a CHF-denominated stablecoin. The consortium announced on April 8 from Zurich that it will run selected use cases in a controlled live environment during 2026. Reuters confirmed the launch the same day. Swiss Stablecoin AG provides the issuance infrastructure, while its subsidiary CHFD Infrastruktur AG handles issuance and redemption of the tokenized instrument, according to the project site.
How the sandbox works
Participating banks access the platform through an API or web interface. The sandbox runs on Ethereum using ERC-20. Safeguards include a limited participant pool and transaction limits, as described by Sygnum's repost of the consortium statement. The group also said no broadly available regulated Swiss-franc stablecoin currently exists in Switzerland — which is why the test is ring-fenced rather than public.
FINMA framework and the CHF 1M cap
Outstanding volume stays below CHF 1 million to fit within Switzerland's fintech sandbox framework. FINMA explains that deposits below that threshold may be accepted without a banking licence if certain conditions are met. Separately, FINMA's 2024 stablecoin guidance sets out supervisory concerns around issuer structure, reserve protection, and the intersection with banking law, AML, and default guarantees. The full guidance text details those requirements. Reserves are held in cash at a regulated Swiss bank.
These banks already work with tokenized infrastructure
Several participants are not new to this space. The Swiss National Bank's Project Helvetia pilot has allowed UBS, BCV, Raiffeisen Switzerland and Zürcher Kantonalbank to use wholesale CBDC on SIX Digital Exchange for settlement. The new sandbox is a private stablecoin test, not a central bank money project — but the overlap in participants means the banks already have operational experience with tokenized finance in Switzerland.
What this changes today
Not much for the broader market. The consortium is testing whether a privately issued CHF stablecoin can work within Swiss legal constraints under bank participation. For investors and public users, there are no access terms, redemption mechanics, or asset-specific use cases disclosed yet. For banks, payments providers, and tokenization platforms watching Swiss stablecoin infrastructure, the sandbox is the first multi-bank live test of its kind in the country.
