DeFi protocol frontend in Switzerland

FINMA applies financial market law in a technology-neutral way, focusing on the economic function and purpose of a token ('substance over form') and following the principle 'same risks, same rules' (FINMA releases of 26 Aug 2019 and 11 Sep 2019).

Switzerland has no single crypto or VASP licence: by activity, firms need SRO membership under AMLA Art. 14, a FinTech licence (deposits up to CHF 100 million, minimum capital at least CHF 300,000), a banking licence (minimum capital CHF 10 million), a securities-firm licence (FinIA Art. 41) or a DLT trading facility licence (FMIA Art. 73a).

Crypto-based assets that a bank or securities firm undertakes to hold available for a custody client, and that are attributable individually or by a clear co-ownership share, are treated as custody assets segregated from the bankruptcy estate (BankG Art. 16 no. 1bis, inserted by the DLT Act, in force 1 Aug 2021); FINMA Guidance 01/2026 (12 Jan 2026) covers custody risks.

The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 10 October 1997 (AMLA/GwG, SR 955.0) sets identification, due-diligence and suspicious-activity reporting duties for financial intermediaries, including crypto service providers; the travel rule itself rests on AMLO-FINMA Art. 10 as applied by FINMA Guidance 02/2019.

The Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA/GwG, SR 955.0, of 10 October 1997) imposes identification, beneficial-owner, documentation and reporting duties (Arts. 3-9) on financial intermediaries, including crypto service providers that professionally accept, hold or help transfer third-party assets (Art. 2(3)); such non-bank intermediaries must join a recognised self-regulatory organisation (Art. 14), while banks and other Art. 2(2) institutions are supervised for AML by FINMA (Art. 12).

Swiss financial intermediaries must identify the contracting party when one virtual-currency transaction, or several that appear linked, reach or exceed CHF 1,000 (AMLO-FINMA Art. 51a(1)); for cash or other anonymous payments, technical measures must prevent linked transactions exceeding that threshold within 30 days (Art. 51a(1bis)); transfers to external wallets require proof of the customer's ownership by suitable technical means (FINMA Guidance 02/2019).

AMLA Art. 6 requires financial intermediaries to clarify the background and purpose of a transaction or business relationship that appears unusual or carries increased risk; relationships with foreign politically exposed persons and their close associates always count as increased-risk (Art. 6(3)), and the frequency of controls follows the client's risk (Art. 6(1)).

Swiss financial intermediaries, including crypto service providers, must verify the identity of the contracting party from a document of evidentiary value when opening a business relationship (AMLA Art. 3(1)) and establish the beneficial owner (AMLA Art. 4).

AMLA Art. 8 requires financial intermediaries to take the organisational measures needed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, in particular adequate staff training and controls; AMLO-FINMA Art. 20 requires effective monitoring of business relationships and transactions, with an IT-based monitoring system for banks and securities firms.

Financial intermediaries must keep the records of transactions and AML clarifications, including client identification and beneficial-owner documents, for at least ten years after the business relationship ends or the transaction is completed (AMLA Art. 7(3)).

The Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS), run by the Federal Office of Police (fedpol), receives and analyses the suspicious activity reports that financial intermediaries, including blockchain service providers, must file under AMLA Art. 9 (AMLA Art. 23).

Swiss financial intermediaries must periodically review client documentation for currency and update it as needed, with frequency, scope and type set by the client's risk (AMLA Art. 7(1bis)); the duty applies equally to FINMA-supervised and SRO-affiliated intermediaries, including crypto service providers.

FINMA is Switzerland's integrated financial market supervisor (FINMASA Art. 6): it licenses banks, FinTech licence holders, securities firms and DLT trading facilities, supervises AML compliance, and issued the ICO Guidelines (2018) and the stablecoin guidance (06/2024).

Financial intermediaries under AMLA Art. 2(3) without a FINMA licence, the usual route for smaller crypto businesses, must join one of the 10 FINMA-recognised self-regulatory organisations (AMLA Art. 14(1)), which include VQF, SO-FIT, AOOS, PolyReg and ARIF.

FINMA's ICO Guidelines (16 Feb 2018) define payment tokens (cryptocurrencies) as tokens intended to be used, now or in the future, as a means of payment for goods or services or for money or value transfer; they give rise to no claims on their issuer, for example Bitcoin and Ether.