Start a crypto company in Switzerland, with DLT Act clarity and a Crypto Valley Zug anchor.

A handful of jurisdictions will let you launch a crypto business. Very few give you the combination Switzerland gives you: a clearly written statutory framework for tokenised assets, a regulator (FINMA) that treats DLT as a supervision question rather than a product question, the densest crypto-business cluster in Europe in a single canton, and a banking infrastructure that, with the right preparation, will actually open the account. That is the pitch, tightened below into four specific advantages.

Statutory clarity through the DLT Act of 2021

In 2021 Switzerland brought a package of amendments into force that is usually referred to as the DLT Act. The statute did not create a new "crypto law"; it threaded specific changes through the Code of Obligations, bankruptcy law and the Financial Market Infrastructure Act so that digital assets and their custody have the same legal weight as traditional securities. The two flagship instruments are ledger-based securities (a new category of pure-digital securities transferable by ledger entry) and the DLT trading facility licence under FMIA art. 73a. No peer jurisdiction has exactly this combination.

FINMA's technology-neutral supervision

FINMA supervises activity, not technology. That has been the doctrine since the 2018 ICO guidance and the 2019 stablecoin supplement, and it is why novel models can often reach a regulator-approved outcome via a no-action letter rather than a new licence category. The practical consequence: a founder who can describe their model in terms of existing regulatory categories (financial intermediary, securities firm, custodian, fund) gets a predictable answer, and a founder with a genuinely novel structure gets a consultative pathway instead of a dead end.

Crypto Valley Zug — density and tax

The canton of Zug hosts the highest concentration of crypto and blockchain businesses in Switzerland, supported by the Crypto Valley Association ecosystem and a combined corporate tax rate of 11.85%, the lowest in the country. For a founder evaluating jurisdictions, Zug combines a low-tax headline with a local legal and banking community that already understands the sector. A longer treatment sits on our Zug — Crypto Valley page.

Legal and banking infrastructure

The other three advantages would matter less without the supporting stack: a predictable civil-law environment, a Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) that has published specific guidance on crypto VAT treatment, a Commercial Register (Zefix) with clean electronic filing, and a set of Swiss banks that, with the right documentation, will onboard a foreign-owned crypto company. The banking piece is non-trivial and discussed honestly further down.

Half of the regulatory uncertainty founders carry into a first call is self-inflicted. Someone who describes themselves as "running a crypto exchange" is often a broker; someone who says they are "issuing a token" is often, legally, issuing a security. The first job of this page is to push you back to an accurate description of the activity, because the activity drives the licence.

The honest operational detail: FINMA uses this framework as a first cut, not a last word. Novel designs, non-standard backing models and exotic hybrids routinely go through the no-action letter route to get a regulator-confirmed classification in writing before the issuance. Treat the three-plus-two model as a map, not a destination.

The full name of the statute is long enough that almost no one uses it; most people, FINMA included, call it the DLT Act of 2021. It was enacted as a package of targeted amendments rather than a standalone law, which is why you rarely see it cited like a single instrument. The changes land in four places.

Ledger-based securities (Registerwertrechte) — OR art. 973d–973i

The Code of Obligations was amended (OR art. 973d–973i, in force 1 February 2021) to create a new category of securities that exist purely as ledger entries on a distributed register. No paper certificate, no intermediated custody: transfer happens by ledger write, with the same legal effect as endorsing a bearer security. This is the enabling technology for tokenised equity, tokenised bonds and tokenised structured products that Swiss issuers can now construct without contractual workarounds.

DLT trading facility licence — FMIA art. 73a–73f

The Financial Market Infrastructure Act gained a new authorisation category, FMIA art. 73a–73f, sitting between self-regulation and a full stock-exchange licence (in force 1 August 2021). A DLT trading facility is a multilateral trading platform for DLT securities with regulated access, settlement discipline, and admission rules. The category is explicitly retail-reachable, which distinguishes it from classic alternative trading systems. BX Digital received the first DLT-trading-venue licence from FINMA in 2025.

Bankruptcy-law protection of crypto-assets — SchKG art. 242a–242b

The Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act (SchKG art. 242a–242b) was amended so that customer crypto-assets held on behalf of customers can be segregated from the bankruptcy estate of a failed Swiss bank or intermediary, on par with the right of separation that protects securities in client custody accounts. For any business that holds customer assets, this is the single largest investor-trust signal added in 2021, and no peer jurisdiction has an equivalent straightforward statutory segregation rule for purely digital assets.

What the DLT Act does NOT do

The DLT Act did not create a standalone crypto licence. It did not exempt any crypto activity from existing financial regulation. BankA, FinIA, CISA and AMLA still apply in full; FINMA still reads each business model against those statutes. The Act is infrastructure, not a regulatory cut-out.

Why AG is the default for regulated crypto

A FINMA-supervised entity almost always ends up as an AG. The shareholder register stays private, which matters for capital-raising and institutional comfort; the capital stack scales naturally through share issues; and Swiss institutional investors are set up to interact with an AG rather than a GmbH. For token issuers with future-round ambitions, a holding AG over an operating AG is a common pattern. Walk-through: Swiss AG formation.

When GmbH is adequate

A small team building unregulated crypto infrastructure, with no third-party capital ambitions in the short term, can often start as a GmbH. Lower capital, lighter governance, faster incorporation. Conversion to an AG later is a routine exercise and commonly anticipated in the articles.

Contribution in kind with crypto

Swiss law permits capitalising an AG or GmbH with non-cash assets (Sacheinlage), including BTC and ETH, subject to notarial valuation and auditor confirmation. The practical workflow: a regulated Swiss valuation of the token holding on a specific block-height, a Sacheinlagevertrag, and an auditor's report under the Code of Obligations rules on contributions in kind. The mechanism is legitimate and routinely used by crypto founders who want to capitalise the company with assets they already hold.

Why Zug wins by default

Lowest headline rate, highest ecosystem density, a local Handelsregister and tax office that see crypto files every week, and a ready-made English-speaking professional services community. For most first-time foreign founders, Zug removes more friction than any tax arbitrage elsewhere could add. Deep dive: Zug — Crypto Valley.

When Zurich or Geneva wins

If your model is banking-adjacent (a crypto-native bank, a tokenised-securities exchange, an institutional-grade custodian), the concentration of supervisors, auditors and counterparties in Zurich usually outweighs the extra headline tax. If your model is wealth-oriented (crypto family office, private-markets tokenisation), Geneva keeps you closer to the francophone HNW community.

Corporate income tax

Federal direct tax on corporate profits is 8.5% statutory, effective 7.83% after deductibility. Cantonal and municipal surcharges apply on top, with combined rates ranging from 11.85% in Zug to the higher 20% bracket in some German-speaking cantons. Swiss-resident companies are taxed on worldwide profit, subject to treaty relief where it applies.

VAT on crypto activities

The Swiss VAT standard rate is 8.1%, with a registration threshold of CHF 100,000 in worldwide turnover under MWSTG art. 10. Per ESTV guidance on crypto VAT, payment-token exchanges are not treated as taxable supplies, which means the exchange leg of a crypto business is typically VAT-neutral. Services rendered in crypto remain VAT-taxable at the fair-market value of the token at invoice date. Full context on Swiss VAT essentials.

Withholding tax on dividends

Swiss withholding tax of 35% applies to corporate dividends paid out of Swiss retained earnings. Treaty reduction is available to foreign shareholders where the relevant double tax treaty applies, subject to beneficial-ownership and principal-purpose tests. No Swiss withholding applies to royalties.

Personal tax implications for founders

For a founder holding tokens as private wealth, capital gains are exempt under DBG art. 16.3. The exemption does not carry over to tokens held as business assets, to activity that qualifies the holder as a professional trader, or to tokens held on the company's own balance sheet. Salaries paid in crypto are taxable as ordinary income at fair-market value on pay date, reported in CHF.

Stamp duties and token issuance

Switzerland levies a 1% issuance stamp on share capital raised, with a CHF 1 million lifetime exemption. Pure token issuances generally sit outside the stamp perimeter, but asset tokens that qualify as securities under FinSA can trigger the same stamp analysis as a classical share issue. The point is worth clarifying in the token design phase, not at issuance.

AMLA scope for Swiss VASPs

Any Swiss entity that holds, transfers or exchanges customer crypto for professional purposes is a financial intermediary under AMLA. That status triggers KYC on counterparties, retention of transaction records, and a duty to file suspicious-activity reports with the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS). Direct FINMA supervision is one route; SRO affiliation is the more common one below bank-like thresholds.

Choosing an SRO

Named Swiss SROs recognised by FINMA include VQF, Polyreg and SO-FIT as category examples. The right choice depends on canton, business model, and the SRO's published appetite for crypto affiliates. Timelines cluster around 2 to 4 months, audit intensity scales with the member's risk profile, and affiliation is followed by ongoing reporting obligations.

FATF Travel Rule, enforced by FINMA

FINMA applies the FATF Travel Rule (FATF Recommendation 16, as extended to virtual-asset service providers in the 2019 updated Interpretative Note) via FINMA Guidance 02/2019 and the revised FINMA-AMLO. It obliges Swiss VASPs to transmit originator and beneficiary information alongside crypto transfers above defined thresholds, and to apply enhanced due diligence on unhosted-wallet counterparties. In practice Swiss VASPs implement the Rule through compliant-messaging infrastructure (TRP-family protocols, vendor solutions such as Notabene or Sumsub). Missing this piece is one of the common failure modes during SRO onboarding.

Weeks 1 to 3 — structuring and incorporation

AG incorporation typically closes within 2 to 6 weeks end-to-end; GmbH within 2 to 4 weeks. Concrete steps: Zefix name-check, articles of association, notarial deed, capital deposit or Sacheinlage, Handelsregister filing. For foreign founders the Swiss-resident-director requirement is slotted in here, using either a founder who is or will be resident or a Swiss resident director.

Weeks 4 to 8 — banking

Realistic bank-onboarding window for a foreign-owned crypto company runs 4 to 12 weeks. Crypto-native banks and crypto-friendly commercial banks can run KYC in parallel with incorporation, starting from the notarial deed. A full primer sits on open a Swiss bank account.

Months 3 to 6 — SRO affiliation or fintech licence

SRO affiliation is typically a 2 to 4 month exercise. A fintech licence runs 6 to 12 months depending on completeness of the application. A DLT trading facility licence or a FinIA portfolio-manager licence commonly run 6 to 18 months. Commercial ramp-up normally runs in parallel, inside the perimeter that is already legal without the target licence.

Ongoing — audit, reporting, Travel Rule

AMLA obligations are continuing: transaction monitoring, UBO re-declarations, annual SRO audit. The Travel Rule is live, not annual. Annual financial audit is triggered above the statutory thresholds, regardless of sector.

Any page that tells you Swiss crypto-company banking is frictionless is selling something. It is possible, it is repeatable with the right documentation, and it is still the single operational step most likely to delay a launch by weeks. Here is the honest picture.

Crypto-native banks

A small number of Swiss banks hold full banking licences and publicly accept crypto- business accounts. Category examples: Sygnum and AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA). Onboarding is thorough — full KYC on UBOs, source-of-crypto-wealth documentation, technical diligence on the business model — but the infrastructure is designed for the sector, and the bank is comfortable holding both fiat and tokens under one account. Mentioned here as category examples, not endorsements.

Crypto-friendly commercial banks

Commercial banks with published crypto appetite include Maerki Baumann and Hypothekarbank Lenzburg; Bank Frick, in Liechtenstein, is commonly referenced as the adjacent FL option. Onboarding is lighter than at crypto-native banks but stricter than at general Swiss banks; their appetite is sector-dependent (a utility-token wallet developer will usually find a door, a stablecoin issuer often will not).

EMI and neobank alternatives

Swiss FINMA-licensed EMIs and European EMIs are common bridge accounts during incorporation, for payroll flows and for counterparty payments that do not need a full Swiss banking relationship. They are not a substitute for a Swiss bank when you eventually need one, but they are an effective first-line solution.

Documents you will need

The realistic onboarding pack: beneficial-owner attestations, source-of-crypto-wealth files (exchange history, on-chain wallet proofs, legacy transaction records), stablecoin-specific disclosures where relevant, full entity documents, and a clean description of the business model mapped to the relevant FINMA category. Prepared up front, this pack cuts banking onboarding from months to weeks.

Ownership and foreign UBOs

Switzerland imposes no cap on foreign ownership of AGs or GmbHs. Ultimate beneficial owners are declared to the internal UBO register for AGs (under the 2021 transparency reform, implemented through the Code of Obligations) and are disclosed on the public Commercial Register for GmbH partners with a 25% or greater interest. In either case the bank identifies the UBO under CDB 20 regardless of what the register shows.

Swiss-resident director or signatory

Both the AG and the GmbH require at least one individually empowered signatory domiciled in Switzerland (art. 718 para. 4 OR and art. 814 para. 3 OR). Foreign founders who do not relocate at day one solve this through a Swiss resident director. Crypto companies under FINMA supervision have the additional constraint that the Swiss-resident role cannot be filled by a nominee alone; substantive regulated-activity competence is required.

Relocating the founder — B permit via company

Founding a Swiss company does not, by itself, grant a residence permit. Non-EU founders typically need a B permit anchored in the "economic interest" test, which the Swiss authorities apply with real scrutiny. EU/EFTA founders move under free movement. The full pathway (both tracks) is laid out on our dedicated Swiss residence permit walk-through and on the banking funnel bank-account page.

We work with foreign crypto founders on the full arc: model classification, licence-track selection, entity choice, cantonal positioning, Handelsregister filing, SRO or FINMA application support, and bank introductions. Engagements are scoped individually because the regulatory perimeter and the investor profile drive the real work; there is no fixed price list. The way we engage, step by step, is laid out on how we work.

For the closely related pathways on the same hub, see our companion pages on the FINMA licence track for deeper licensing detail, and on Swiss holding structure for the common IP-and-treasury wrapper above a crypto-operating company. For hub-level orientation, back to Specialised Swiss structures.