Swiss National Bank Warned of Threat Stablecoins Pose to Bank Deposits

05.10.2026    11:33

The widespread adoption of stablecoins could transform not only the payments market but also the way central banks conduct monetary policy, warned Petra Chudin, a member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB).

The SNB representative presented the bank’s position on new forms of money on September 30 at the KOF Prognosetagung 2026 in Zurich.
One of the main risks is linked to a potential shift of funds from traditional bank deposits to stablecoins.

If individuals and companies begin transferring significant amounts of money from bank accounts into digital tokens, commercial banks could lose access to a relatively cheap source of funding.
As a result, resources for lending to the economy will decrease, and banks will have to seek more expensive market-based financing.

But for central banks, the problem runs even deeper. By changing the interest rate, the central bank influences the cost of money within the banking system. Banks then adjust their deposit and loan rates, which affects household spending, corporate investment, and ultimately inflation.
The more money that moves out of the traditional banking system into stablecoins, the weaker this channel for transmitting monetary policy could potentially become.

Chudin also highlighted the fundamental issue of the unity of money. Currently, under normal conditions, one Swiss franc in a bank account is equivalent to one franc in cash or central bank money.
A stablecoin is an obligation of a private issuer and does not necessarily possess the same characteristics as central bank money.

This is precisely why the widespread adoption of various private digital currencies has the potential to lead to a more fragmented monetary system. That said, the SNB does not reject the technology behind digital money itself.
Switzerland is one of the most active European markets for institutional tokenization. The central bank is already experimenting with settlements using central bank digital currency for transactions involving tokenized assets.

Thus, the question for regulators is no longer whether new forms of money will emerge, but rather which digital form of money will become the primary unit of account—stablecoins issued by private companies, tokenized bank deposits, or central bank digital currencies.
This rivalry is emerging as one of the most notable structural trends in the financial market in 2026.

In the UK alone, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and NatWest conducted the first interbank transactions involving tokenized deposits in September.
At the same time, European banks are developing their own stablecoin projects, while global financial groups are experimenting with round-the-clock blockchain settlements.

As a result, the market is gradually moving beyond the old “cryptocurrency versus banks” dichotomy. Banks and central banks are beginning to build their own digital infrastructure to compete with the functions currently performed by USDT, USDC, and other stablecoins.

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