Swiss CHF Stablecoin Sandbox Enters Test Phase as SIX and TWINT Join Initiative
Key Takeaways
- •SIX and TWINT have joined the CHF stablecoin initiative, bringing the total number of participating companies to nine.
- •The tests focus on CHFD, a stablecoin designed to maintain a 1:1 peg to the Swiss franc, which has been live in the sandbox since late June.
- •Beyond interbank transactions and tokenized asset settlement, participants are exploring programmable payments such as fraud reduction on marketplaces, fairer event ticket access, and more efficient public sector payments.
- •The test phase has an open outcome and is expected to continue until the end of 2026, with a summary of findings to follow.
- •The initiative builds on Switzerland's existing digital-asset framework, including the 2021 DLT Act and the Swiss National Bank's Project Helvetia CBDC pilots.
Switzerland’s CHF stablecoin initiative has entered its test phase, it was revealed on Tuesday, with financial infrastructure operator SIX and payment provider TWINT joining as new partners. Their arrival brings the total number of participating companies to nine.
The initiative, launched in April 2026, now includes UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank, BCV, SIX, TWINT and Swiss Stablecoin AG. The group is testing selected use cases for a Swiss franc stablecoin within a secure digital sandbox environment. SIX and TWINT bring additional expertise in financial market infrastructure and digital payments to the project, and SIX in particular has been active in Swiss digital finance infrastructure, operating the SIX Digital Exchange for tokenized securities.
The effort builds on Switzerland’s broader track record with regulated digital-asset experimentation: the country’s DLT Act, in force since 2021, created a legal framework for blockchain-based settlement, and the Swiss National Bank has trialled wholesale central bank digital currency settlement with commercial banks in its Project Helvetia pilots on the SIX platform. The private-sector CHF stablecoin sandbox complements these initiatives by testing a privately issued franc-denominated token rather than central bank money.
The tests centre on CHFD, a stablecoin designed to maintain a 1:1 peg to the Swiss franc, which has been technically live in the sandbox since late June. Testing takes place on a CHF stablecoin platform operated by CHFD Infrastruktur AG, a subsidiary of Swiss Stablecoin AG.
Beyond established applications such as automated interbank transactions and the tokenized settlement of digital assets, participants are also exploring programmable payment use cases. These include reducing fraud on online marketplaces, supporting fairer access to event tickets, and improving efficiency in public sector payments. The breadth of participants — spanning the country’s largest bank in UBS, cantonal banks, a crypto-bank in Sygnum, and now retail payment rails via TWINT — indicates the tests span both wholesale financial-market use cases and everyday consumer payment scenarios.
The test phase, which operates within defined limits on participants and transaction sizes, has an open outcome and is expected to continue until the end of 2026.
According to the organisers, the goal is to understand where a CHF stablecoin could add value, identify challenges, and determine the technical, operational and regulatory requirements for any future development.
A summary of findings is expected once the initiative concludes. The sandbox does not represent a decision on whether a CHF stablecoin will ultimately be introduced, though the findings are likely to inform the ongoing debate in Switzerland over whether a franc stablecoin should be issued privately, by the central bank, or not at all.
