The Swiss central bank’s head, Thomas Jordan, made the announcement for a wholesale CBDC pilot at a Zurich meet recently.
The Swiss National Bank has announced its plans to start a CBDC pilot, as announced by its head. This decision was in line with several central banks around the world that were experimenting with CBDCs. Thomas Jordan, the Chairman of the Swiss central bank, announced the new wholesale CBDC pilot on 26 June at Zurich’s Point Zero Forum.
“This is not just an experiment, it will be real money equivalent to bank reserves and the objective is to test real transactions with market participants,” he said. Jordan clarified that the project would be for a limited time even though the official dates weren’t specified.
The board of the Swiss National Bank had been deliberating on CBDCs and decentralized finance for some time. The bank had even been a part of Project Helvetia, where it helped wholesale CBDCs join five banks on their back-office systems.
The latest wholesale CBDC in Switzerland will be launched on the Swiss SIX digital exchange. Chairman Thomas Jordan mentioned they were a little prudent regarding retail CBDCs, but has mentioned not using them ever.
With the risks associated with retail CBDCs, central bankers of the world are currently researching their use cases and security protocols.
The Swiss National Bank has not diminished the value of cash in today’s times, even though digital payment methods have become more popular than ever. A senior official of the Swiss National Bank claimed that cash was the only method for households to hold money issued by the central bank.