Switzerland

Regulatory Status

Jurisdiction code

CH

Regime

Licensing

Regulator

FINMA

Governing law

AMLA / DLT Law 2021

Travel Rule

Enforced

Tracked entities

24

Recognized stablecoin backing

fiat-backed, crypto-backed, commodity-backed

Yield-bearing stablecoins

Restricted

Currency

CHF

Regulatory approach

FINMA is Switzerland’s integrated financial‑markets supervisor responsible for licensing and supervising banks, securities firms, collective investment schemes, insurers and a wide range of fintech and crypto‑asset service providers; it applies and interprets federal financial‑market legislation, issues guidance such as the 2019 ICO supplement and 2024 stablecoin guidance, and enforces AML/CFT standards in coordination with the Federal Council’s legislative policy.

Licensed entities in Switzerland

Showing 12 of 24 regulated-entity records tracked in Switzerland by Plexo Institute.

Browse all 24 records in the regulated-entity registry, including the remaining 12 in Switzerland.

Stablecoin laws in Switzerland

Primary legal texts Plexo Institute tracks for Switzerland.

• Swiss DLT Act (Distributed Ledger Technology Act) (enacted 2021-08-01)

  Provides a legal basis for distributed ledger technologies and tokenization, indirectly covering stablecoins through securities and settlement law.

• FINMA Guidelines on Stablecoins (enacted 2019-09-11)

  Clarifies how Swiss financial market law applies to stablecoins, with case-by-case assessment depending on whether they are securities, deposits, or collective investments.

Regulatory events in Switzerland

Dated regulatory developments Plexo Institute tracks for Switzerland, most recent first.

• FINMA releases further information for Stablecoins Issuers and Guaranteeing Banks (2024-07-26 · Regulatory)

  The guidance focuses on two points: 1) Defines minimum requirements for default guarantees of banks: Guarantees are used to exempt Stablecoins Issuers from adhering to banking licenses requirements. 2) Anti-Money Laundering guidance: Adequate identity verification to all Stablecoins holders (Directed to Stablecoins Issuers and Regulated Financial Intermediaries)

• Remaining Provisions entered into force. (2021-08-01 · Regulatory)
• The Swiss Federal Council enacted the remaining provisions of the DLT Law (2021-06-18 · Regulatory)

  These remaining provisions extended the scope of the DLT Law.

• The Swiss DLT Act entered into force (2021-02-01 · Regulatory)

  Progressed to live.

• Swiss Federal Council approves DLT Act (2020-09-25 · Legislative)

  The DLT Act constitutes an “Umbrella Legislation”, introducing new concepts of DLT securities, new licensing categories and more.

• FINMA publishes supplement to its ICO Guidelines (2019-09-11 · Legislative)

  FINMA follows a principle-based and technology-neutral stance and will treat ‘Stablecoin’ with the existing approach taken to blockchain-based tokens under Swiss Supervisory Law.

• Draft law (‘Draft DLT Law’) in relation to blockchain and DLT published. (2019-03-22 · Legislative)

  The Draft DLT Law by the Swiss Federal Council proposes to amend Swiss Civil Securities Legislation within the Swiss Code of Obligations

• Federal Council Report publishes a report on the legal framework for Distributed Ledger Technology (2018-12-14 · Legislative)

  The report recognises Switzerland’s legal framework as adequate regulations to the rising development of new technologies, such as Distributed Ledger Technology.

Relationship Graph

• Browse the full regulated-entity registry
• Compare all jurisdiction profiles
• Plexo Institute research

Jurisdiction FAQ

Who regulates Switzerland?

The current Plexo Institute record lists FINMA as the regulator for Switzerland.

How many VASPs are tracked in Switzerland?

24 VASP/entity records are tracked by Plexo Institute in Switzerland.

What is the Travel Rule status in Switzerland?

The current Plexo Institute record lists the Travel Rule status for Switzerland as Enforced.

Source Evidence

This profile is compiled from official legislation and regulator records. Source confidence: official source evidence.

• FINMA Licensed Entities
• Atlantic Council Tracker
• Library of Congress