130 countries worldwide are researching and developing their own digital central bank currency (CBDC). Switzerland is now daring to push digital money.
According to a report by Reuters, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) plans to issue a wholesale digital central bank currency (CBDC).
According to the report, this was announced by the head of the SNB, Thomas Jordan, on June 26 at a conference, the Point Zero Forum, in Zurich.
As part of a pilot project, the digital money is to be issued on the Swiss digital exchange SIX. However, Jordan stressed the project was “not just an experiment.”
“It will be real money equivalent to bank reserves and the goal is to test real transactions with market participants,” Jordan said.
However, it is a wholesale CBDC (“Wholesale”). This type of CBDC is intended for trading between commercial banks or other financial institutions.
Although the SNB does not consider a CBDC for retail and private customers to be impossible in the future, it is reluctant to do so. “We’re not ruling out never launching retail CBDCs, but we’re still cautious at the moment,” Jordan said, according to the report.
An exact date for the start of the test phase has not yet been set. Reuters quoted the bank boss as saying the project would start “soon”.
Meanwhile, global CBDC development continues. In this article you can read how the digital euro is doing.
Picture Copyright: peshkova
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