In Switzerland, Phase II of Project Helvetia has been completed, successfully demonstrating that it is possible to integrate a wholesale CBDC (wCBDC) running on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms into existing core banking systems.
Kickstarted in 2020, Project Helvetia is an experimental initiative by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub Swiss Centre, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and financial infrastructure operator SIX that focuses on exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Phase I, completed in late 2020, showed that a Swiss franc wCBDC could be issued and transferred under Swiss law on a near-live DLT test platform, in this case, the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX).
Phase II, the last part of the project, expanded the