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Switzerland has long sought to project financial stability — the neutral safe haven, the sound money, the vault. Now it wants to bottle that reputation in digital form.
The government has launched a consultation on allowing stablecoins to be issued in the country, marking a step towards a future where confidence in Swiss reliability can be expressed not only in a numbered account, but in a blockchain token.
The proposal sketches out new licence categories for “payment instrument institutions” and “crypto institutions” that would bring stablecoin issuers under Swiss financial law. It sounds dry, but the implications are large: can Switzerland translate its brand of financial orthodoxy into the crypto world — and will that strengthen or undermine its traditional banking model?
Stablecoins are digital tokens pegged to traditional currencies such as the dollar or the franc, designed to offer the speed of crypto payments without the volatility of bitcoin. They are seen as a bridge between conventional finance and the blockchain economy.
Switzerland has the credentials to be an anchor for a credible stablecoin. Excepting the collapse of Credit Suisse that scarred the country’s reputation in 2023, its institutions are seen as steady, its regulator pragmatic, and its currency among the most trusted on earth. A token pegged to the Swiss franc — transparent, fully backed and supervised by the regulator Finma — could stand apart from the slapdash experiments that have tarnished the sector elsewhere.
A franc-based stablecoin could also appeal to users seeking alternatives to the dollar’s dominance in crypto payments. The franc’s haven status might attract investors wanting digital liquidity without tying themselves to US monetary policy or the reputational baggage of offshore issuers.
Switzerland’s timing is deliberate. Regulators in Europe, the US and Asia have already wrestled with how to police stablecoins — and in some cases, with mixed results. Switzerland, by contrast, has taken its time. Its proposal draws some clear lines: coins issued in the country will need a licence with reserve and disclosure requirements; foreign coins merely traded in the country will be treated as crypto assets, not as legal payment tokens. Offshore issuers won’t be forced to relocate or duplicate reserves, while Swiss-issued coins remain tightly supervised by Finma.
Some argue Switzerland’s deliberate pace has cost it momentum. Once hailed as “Crypto Nation”, it now faces stiffer competition from faster-moving hubs such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, which have been eager to court global digital-asset firms.
Dea Markova, policy director at crypto company Fireblocks, says: “Switzerland has taken its time to learn lessons — from the EU, the US and others.” She calls the move potentially transformative. “The game changer for Switzerland will be building the market for tokenised assets and bonds. To have that market, you need tokenised money — cash on chain — and that’s what this framework is really about.”
Hany Rashwan, founder of a Swiss-based crypto ETF company 21shares, argues stablecoins could “support the strength of the Swiss franc, its stability and sovereignty”.
Law firm Bär & Karrer notes Bern would also lift the SFr100mn cap limiting how much client money licensed fintechs can hold, a change designed to let such institutions “take advantage of economies of scale”. Simply put, that is a telling signal that new digital-money providers are meant to grow, even if that means more competition for banks.
But success carries an irony. The more convincing the Swiss stablecoin story becomes, the more it threatens the system it springs from. In a world where digital francs can move globally at the click of a button, the need for a Swiss bank account — or even a Swiss intermediary — diminishes. Why park money in the Alpine country if you can hold it in the same currency, from your own wallet? The risk for Switzerland’s banks is not that stablecoins fail, but that they work too well.
Still, the balance is delicate. Too much freedom and Switzerland risks reputational blowback; too much control and innovation will migrate elsewhere. The consultation — open until February with legislation unlikely before late 2026 — gives Bern time to design something distinctively Swiss: orderly, transparent, but not suffocating (start-ups will hope).
The larger question is philosophical. Can Switzerland replicate its defining product — trust — in an era that thrives on code and decentralisation? If it gets it right, it could extend its financial relevance into the digital age. If it mis-steps, a core industry for the country faces the risk of being undermined by a world of tokenised competition.
mercedes.ruehl@ft.com
