Switzerland’s central bank is making a foray into the realm of digital currencies. Thomas Jordan, Chairman of SNB, revealed plans to launch a wholesale central bank digital currency on the country’s SIX digital exchange, as part of a pilot.
In a conference in Zurich, Jordan clarified that the CBDC is not a mere experiment, but a step towards digitizing money. He asserted, “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.”
Despite the innovative move, Jordan voiced concerns regarding potential risks posed by retail CBDCs on the financial system. Moreover, he flagged the difficulty in controlling the use of such currencies. While not ruling out future introduction of retail CBDCs, he expressed a measure of caution, stating, “We do not exclude that we will never introduce retail [CBDCs] but nevertheless we are a little bit prudent at the moment.”
