Neue Episode

SNB & The Rails of Finance - a conversation with Thomas Moser (Swiss National Bank) Project Helvetia & Settlement Infrastructure • Wholesale CBDC implementation on SIX's SDX platform (live since 2023) • Trigger solution partnerships with BX Digital—proving a parallel approach works • Why the SNB chose wholesale over retail CBDC from the start • How these "two solutions in production" create a valuable competitive learning environment Public vs. Private Blockchains: The Central Bank Dilemma • Three core challenges for permissionless blockchains: control/exit, settlement finality, and privacy • Why the SNB uses private infrastructure today but sees long-term potential for public rails • The importance of deterministic settlement and legal certainty • How compliance and access concerns are being addressed by early adopters The Shifting Financial System • Stablecoins: a real challenge to traditional banking, but not necessarily a threat • Tokenized deposits as banks' response to keep customers on-chain • Impact on monetary policy transmission and financial stability • How roles are changing in both cash and asset markets Revolutionary Use Cases Beyond Replication • Intraday interest payments every 6–7 seconds—a paradigm shift for treasurers and central banks • The need for central banks to rethink liquidity provision and arbitrage prevention • Cross-border settlement without correspondent banking layers • Automated asset programming and composability on public blockchains Ecosystem as Infrastructure • Why building in silos—technological or organizational—is the biggest risk • The iPhone analogy: transformative technology requires an app store, not a locked garden • Importance of forums like Point Zero and cross-sector dialogue in Switzerland • Timeline: hybrid financial systems will persist, but digital components will grow increasingly important Key Themes: ▪ Wholesale CBDC is more pragmatic and bank-friendly than retail alternatives ▪ Private blockchains today, but permissionless systems have long-term potential ▪ Stablecoins represent structural change, not just competitive disruption ▪ True innovation comes from composability and ecosystem effects, not single platforms ▪ Central banks must balance control concerns with the benefits of open infrastructure ▪ Intraday interest payments signal a fundamentally different financial world