SNB warns stablecoins could complicate monetary policy

The SNB is warning that large stablecoins could weaken the way its interest rate decisions reach the economy. Petra Tschudin, one of the Swiss National Bank’s three governing board members, raised the concern at a Zurich event on September 30, 2026. Her message came as Switzerland develops digital payment infrastructure while keeping a close watch on privately issued money.

Stablecoins are crypto assets designed to maintain a stable value against a traditional currency or another asset. Their appeal lies in faster and cheaper transfers, particularly for companies operating across borders. Their growth could also move parts of the payments system outside the commercial banking structure that central banks rely on to implement monetary policy.

Tschudin said modernising payments made sense, but warned that large stablecoins operating outside the existing two tier financial system could make it harder for central banks to fulfil their mandates. In Switzerland, that mandate includes maintaining price stability while taking economic developments into account.

The SNB does not currently see a major domestic stability threat. Stablecoin volumes and adoption remain low in Switzerland. The warning concerns what could happen if privately issued digital currencies gain a much larger role in everyday payments, deposits and international settlement.

A stablecoin’s promise depends on its ability to maintain one to one convertibility, and the SNB says that promise may fail. Issuers typically present these tokens as digital representations of traditional money. Users expect to exchange them at par, meaning one unit should remain redeemable for one unit of the underlying currency.

That arrangement can come under pressure if confidence falls, reserves prove difficult to access or many holders seek redemption at the same time. The source material does not identify a specific Swiss stablecoin failure, and the SNB continues to assess local risks as small because usage remains limited. Its concern is broader: a large private payment instrument could become important before regulators have secured the protections associated with the banking system.

The monetary policy issue follows from scale and substitution. If businesses and households hold more privately issued digital currency, changes in the SNB’s policy rate may pass through commercial banks less directly. Payment flows, liquidity and credit conditions could also respond differently when money circulates through a network outside the established banking model.

The SNB’s position leaves room for innovation, but it calls for rules that preserve the central bank’s influence over monetary conditions and protect users from an unfulfilled redemption promise.

Switzerland’s regulatory challenge is to allow useful payment innovation without surrendering control over the flow of money. Tschudin acknowledged that stablecoins could help international companies send funds around the world at lower cost. For Swiss exporters, financial firms and multinational groups based in the country, quicker settlement could reduce friction in cross border transactions.

The same technology creates competition for commercial banks. Stablecoin providers could capture payment activity, liquidity or customer relationships that banks traditionally manage. Tschudin described that rivalry as positive when it encourages innovation. The SNB’s condition is that the market must operate within a framework that safeguards the effectiveness of monetary policy.

The source does not set out a new Swiss licensing regime or identify a specific legislative proposal. It does establish the central bank’s direction of travel: privately issued digital currencies must be assessed not only as payment products, but also for their effects on banking, convertibility and policy transmission.

For Switzerland, the debate will involve the SNB, financial regulators, banks, technology companies and businesses that use international payment networks. The country’s low current adoption gives authorities time to shape safeguards before stablecoins become a larger part of domestic commerce.

The SNB is pursuing a public digital money project, but it is keeping that experiment in the wholesale market. The central bank began issuing a blockchain based digital currency for banks three years ago. It plans to continue the project until at least 2028, giving financial institutions a state backed instrument for testing digital settlement.

Consumers cannot hold the SNB token. That separates Switzerland’s approach from retail CBDC programmes in places such as China and the euro area, where authorities have examined digital money designed for public use. The Swiss central bank has repeatedly said the benefits of a retail CBDC do not outweigh the risks, including possible effects on banks and the financial system.

The wholesale project also remains modest. Tschudin said the volumes traded on the platform are not extremely large and that a major takeoff has not yet occurred. The SNB sees the direction of travel continuing, even as practical adoption develops slowly.

This division gives Switzerland a controlled testing ground. Banks can explore tokenised settlement and digital infrastructure while the public continues to use cash and commercial bank money. It also reflects the SNB’s preference for targeted experimentation over a consumer facing digital franc.

Switzerland’s next decisions will turn on adoption, scale and the safeguards attached to private digital money. The SNB’s present assessment is measured: local stablecoin volumes and usage are low, and domestic financial stability risks remain small. That position could change if large tokens become widely used for payments, corporate cash management or settlement.

Tschudin’s comments place monetary policy transmission at the centre of the discussion. The SNB needs its decisions on interest rates to influence financing conditions across the economy. A payments ecosystem dominated by instruments outside the established banking structure could make that process less predictable, particularly during periods of market stress or rapid redemption.

The bank’s wholesale CBDC programme will continue until at least 2028, while the SNB maintains its opposition to a retail digital franc for now. Stablecoins remain capable of delivering cheaper international transfers and stronger competition, but their issuers must meet expectations around convertibility and oversight.

For Swiss companies and consumers, the practical outcome will depend on how quickly adoption grows and how regulators respond. The SNB has signalled that payment modernisation can proceed, provided private digital currencies do not erode the tools used to preserve price stability.