Swiss Central Bank Completes Wholesale CBDC Trial
- The second phase of Project Helvetia was conducted in partnership with the Bank of International Settlements, the Swiss National Bank, and the SIX Digital Exchange.
- Completed in the fourth quarter of 2021, the tests saw a wholesale CBDC being integrated into the systems of Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, and UBS banks.
Bern, Switzerland – April 15, 2019: Decorative inscription on the Swiss National Bank.
marekusz / Shutterstock
The Swiss National Bank has completed the second phase of its “Project Helvetia”, testing the integration of a wholesale CBDC into the back-office systems of different commercial banks, the Swiss central bank said in a press release on 13 January.
According to the announcement, the CBDC tests took place during the fourth quarter of 2021, and were conducted in partnership with the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) and financial infrastructure service provider SIX. The experiment also included five commercial banks, namely Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, and UBS. Andrea Maechler, member of the SNB governing board, said in a statement:
“To continue fulfilling their mandates of ensuring monetary and financial stability, central banks need to stay on top of technological change. Project Helvetia is a prime example of how to achieve this. It allowed the SNB to deepen its understanding of how the safety of central bank money could be extended to tokenised asset markets.”
Project Helvetia focuses on solving operational, legal, and policy-related issues regarding CBDC settlements, and has been designed to prepare central banks for a future with DLT-based financial assets. The tests involved issuing a wholesale CBDC — used to settle interbank transfers and wholesale transactions — on a DLT platform operated by a private company.
Phase two of the project involved exploring the settlement of domestic interbank and monetary policy transactions between the Swiss central bank and commercial banks, as well as cross-border transactions between a Swiss bank and Citigroup in London. While these tests have put Switzerland ahead of others when it comes to CBDC research, it remains unknown if the country is even planning to release such a currency.
- The head of China’s central bank digital currency institute said the e-CNY has undergone a major upgrade, and should be made available as an option in all retail scenarios.
- The PBOC official noted that platforms can integrate the CBDC in the short term using QR codes, and focus on upgrading their payment tools in the long run.
Office building of the People’s Bank of China. Flickr
- The current governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, announced he is joining the race for the 47th president of the U.S. during a Twitter Spaces event on Wednesday.
- During his speech DeSantis declared his support for Bitcoin and the wider crypto space, noting that if Joe Biden is re-elected “they’ll probably end up killing it”.
- Planned for 1 April, the CBDC trial will involve real consumers and real transactions, though they will be limited to a certain number of customers and transfers.
- The pilot, however, will not be opened to the general public in its first phase, and will only be opened to customers chosen by the 13 participating local banks.