SIX Group asks Swiss central bank to issue stablecoin

Swiss stock exchange SIX Group has asked the Swiss central bank to issue a cryptocurrency for payment settlement, swissinfo writes. So far, the Swiss National Bank has treaded cautiously around cryptocurrencies.

Nonetheless, SIX would like to list a bank-issued, CHF-pegged stablecoin on SDX—its digital securities trading platform targeted at qualified investors, to be launched early next year. The exchange wants to use the token for settling securities payments between banks on the "wholesale" market. Token holders would also be able to exchange it for cash when needed.

“We most definitely favour a central bank issued stablecoin,” SIX said. They also outlined how member banks could benefit from using tokenised CHF (Swiss Francs) on the SDX platform to trade digitalised version of stocks, bonds, and securities.

"SDX would accept CHF payments from member banks in central bank money and issue equivalent tokenised CHF in SDX. The value of tokenised CHF would be pegged 1:1 with CHF at all times."

The bank confirmed they were in talks “about different options on how to settle the cash side” of trades. However, no agreement has been reached yet.