A consortium of Switzerland's major financial institutions has initiated a live trial for a regulated Swiss franc stablecoin, aiming to establish a digital settlement layer for the national economy.

The initiative's participants include UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank, BCV and Swiss Stablecoin AG. The sandbox will run through 2026 and remains open to additional banks, companies and institutions, Sygnum said in a statement on Wednesday. 

According to the statement, the CHF stablecoin sandbox is designed as a controlled live environment, allowing financial institutions to test digital financial products under realistic conditions while operating within defined safeguards such as transaction limits and a restricted participant pool. 

The participating firms said the initiative aims to support the development of a Swiss digital money ecosystem, build operational expertise in blockchain-based payments and generate practical insights into emerging digital payment methods.

The development comes as stablecoin usage accelerates globally. Standard Chartered analysts said in a March 31 research note that stablecoin velocity has roughly doubled over the past two years, with tokens now turning over about six times per month on average. 

Geoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered's global head of digital assets research, wrote that velocity has increased recently, contrary to the bank's assumption that it would remain stable. Standard Chartered still expects stablecoin supply to reach $2 trillion by 2028.

Meanwhile, the total supply for USD-pegged stablecoins has reached $298.5 billion, according to The Block's data dashboard. 

Tether's USDT, with a market cap of $184 billion, accounts for nearly 62% of that supply. Circle's USDC ranks second at approximately $78 billion, representing about 26% of the total.