Swissquote Crypto Review 2027: Fees, Coins and Regulation

The firm started as a website publishing free share prices for Swiss investors and moved into online brokerage soon after. Its head office is in Gland, between Geneva and Lausanne.

When it added bitcoin in 2017, most banks were still warning customers away from crypto. That early start means its systems, custody and compliance processes have had years of use.

Clients buy actual crypto. The current list has about 52 assets, including:

• Bitcoin, ether, solana, XRP and cardano
• Chainlink, polkadot, avalanche, uniswap and other established tokens
• Stablecoins

The selection is curated. The bank adds assets slowly and avoids the most speculative tokens.

A defining feature is that coins can be sent out to your own wallet and brought in from outside, for most supported assets. External addresses have to be verified first, in line with Swiss anti-money-laundering rules, and a transfer fee applies.

Many bank-style crypto services lock coins inside the platform. Here you have a real exit to self-custody.

In 2022 the bank launched its own crypto exchange, SQX. Client orders are matched against each other in a central order book, with outside liquidity providers filling the gaps. The aim is tighter prices and less dependence on third-party venues.

On a single purchase of 5,000 francs, the fee is 50 francs. At a large exchange the same order might cost five to twenty. Whether the difference is acceptable depends on what you value. Someone trading every week should not use the entry tier. Someone making a few purchases a year, who wants the coins held by a regulated Swiss bank, may consider it a reasonable premium.

The bank offers staking on selected proof-of-stake assets, including ether. Rewards are paid into the account after the bank takes a commission. Staked coins can be subject to unbonding periods set by each network, during which they cannot be sold.

Because this is a full securities bank, there are other ways to gain exposure:

• Exchange-traded crypto products listed on SIX
• Thematic certificates created by the bank
• Crypto derivatives for qualified clients

These sit beside shares, funds and bonds in one account, which makes rebalancing a mixed portfolio simple.

Cash at the Swiss bank is covered by the national deposit protection scheme up to 100,000 francs per client. In Luxembourg the limit is €100,000.

Crypto is not cash, and those schemes do not insure the value of coins. Under Swiss law, however, crypto assets held in custody for clients can be separated from the bank's own estate in a bankruptcy, provided they are held in a qualifying way. That legal segregation is a meaningful protection, and few jurisdictions state it as clearly.

Crypto is traded in the main Swissquote app and web platform, next to all other assets. The interface is sober and functional. Limit and market orders are supported.

For leveraged currency and CFD trading there are separate platforms, Advanced Trader and MetaTrader 4 and 5. Those belong to the trading side of the business, not to the spot crypto service.

Swiss residents may also know Yuh, a mobile banking app developed with the country's postal bank and now owned by Swissquote. It offers a simpler way to buy a set of coins with small amounts. Pricing and features differ from the main platform.

The bank does not offer accounts to residents of the United States.

Opening an account is fully digital and takes longer than at a trading app, with video identification and questions about the source of your funds. Accounts can hold many currencies, and the franc, euro and dollar are the usual bases.

A research team publishes market commentary and thematic reports, and the bank's magazine covers investing trends in several languages. Crypto is discussed with a banker's caution, which some readers will find refreshing.

Swiss clients receive an annual tax statement that includes crypto positions at the official year-end values. For anyone who has tried to assemble a crypto tax report from exchange exports, this alone can justify part of the fee.

Support is provided by phone and email in English, French, German and Italian, among others, during extended business hours. It is a bank's service desk, professional and unhurried.

Clients can set up a savings plan that buys a fixed amount of a chosen coin at regular intervals. The fee is applied to each purchase, so very small instalments are relatively costly; a monthly plan is more economical than a daily one.

The account can hold francs, euros, dollars and other currencies side by side. Crypto on the platform is quoted mainly against the dollar and the euro. If your cash is in francs, a conversion spread is added on the way in and again on the way out. Holding a dollar balance for crypto purchases avoids paying it twice on every round trip.

Saxo offers no real coins at all, so for direct ownership Swissquote is clearly ahead. Bitpanda lists more than ten times as many assets and is quicker to open, but it is not a bank. Swissquote sits between them: fewer coins than a crypto platform, far more crypto capability than a typical bank.

It suits you if you:

• Want real coins held by a listed, regulated bank.
• Hold shares and funds and want crypto in the same statement.
• Care about clean tax reporting and the option to withdraw to a wallet.

It does not suit active traders, bargain hunters or people who want hundreds of small tokens.