UBS joins major banks to test Swiss franc stablecoin in sandbox

UBS Group AG, Switzerland’s largest universal bank, has joined forces with five other major Swiss financial institutions to launch a sandbox initiative to test a Swiss franc–denominated stablecoin, according to a Wednesday press release.

The partners are PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. They are working alongside Swiss Stablecoin AG, which provides the technical backbone for issuance.

The coordinated effort is aimed at advancing Switzerland’s digital money ecosystem.

The initiative addresses the current absence of a widely used, regulated Swiss franc stablecoin by creating a controlled testing environment for blockchain-based payment solutions. Stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies, offer benefits such as fast settlement, transparency, and programmable transactions.

Within the sandbox, participants will test selected use cases under defined safeguards, gaining hands-on experience and evaluating real-world benefits for clients.

The project seeks to enhance operational efficiency, build institutional knowledge, and support the development of a robust Swiss digital currency ecosystem.

The sandbox will run throughout 2026 and is open to additional participants.

Years of groundwork

Switzerland has steadily advanced digital currency technology in recent years. In December 2021, it completed a cross-border CBDC payment trial with France, followed by the Swiss National Bank’s Project Helvetia in late 2023 to explore wholesale CBDCs.

In September 2025, PostFinance, Sygnum, and UBS carried out the first cross-bank payments using deposit tokens on a public blockchain, with the trial concluding in November.

UBS has been building its own digital asset capabilities in parallel. It piloted UBS Digital Cash in November 2024 as a multi-currency blockchain payment solution and issued a CHF 375 million digital bond, the first publicly traded bond of its kind on blockchain.

UBS is exploring crypto access for individual clients while strengthening its digital foundation and developing offerings such as tokenized deposits, CEO Sergio Ermotti said.

The bank is pursuing a fast follower strategy in asset tokenization over the next three to five years and weighing a limited rollout for wealthy clients in Switzerland, as competition intensifies from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.