Nine Swiss institutions have begun coordinated testing of CHFD, a Swiss franc-pegged stablecoin, after financial market operator SIX and payments app TWINT joined the consortium. The pilot covers programmable payments, tokenized asset settlement and interbank automation, and runs through the end of 2026.
Nine Swiss companies began sandbox tests of CHFD on September 8, after SIX and TWINT joined the seven existing participants. SIX operates Switzerland's core financial market infrastructure, while TWINT runs the country's dominant mobile payments app.
The nine participants are UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, SIX, TWINT and Swiss Stablecoin AG, according to the official announcement. CHFD Infrastruktur AG, a subsidiary of Swiss Stablecoin AG, operates the platform used for the trials.
What the pilot will test
The tests examine whether programmable payments can reduce fraud on online marketplaces, support fair access to event tickets and make public payments more efficient, according to a Tuesday press release. The group is also testing interbank automated transactions and the settlement of tokenized assets.
The sandbox operates under transaction caps and a limited participant group, restrictions that distinguish it from a public stablecoin circulating freely through exchanges and personal wallets. One CHFD is designed to equal one Swiss franc during the experimental phase.
From six banks to nine participants
UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank and Banque Cantonale Vaudoise originally launched the initiative with Swiss Stablecoin AG in April 2026. CHFD became technically operational inside the sandbox at the end of June, so the September 8 announcement marks the start of coordinated testing across the expanded group rather than the token's first technical deployment.
The participants have not published a public token contract, circulation figure or exchange listing, and retail users have not been invited to buy, redeem or transfer CHFD. No public reserve attestation accompanied the announcement.
No commercial launch decision yet
The partners expect testing to continue through the end of 2026 before publishing an overview of the findings afterward. The institutions have said the testing does not represent a decision to issue CHFD commercially or make it available to the public.
A broader launch would require a separate decision once the results are assessed, and no retail rollout, bank-account integration or exchange listing has been announced.
Sources: Cointelegraph (snippet-based), crypto.news, Crypto Briefing
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