Switzerland: crypto and stablecoin regulation (as of 1 November 2026)

As of 2026-11-01

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) set out its practice on stablecoins in FINMA Guidance 06/2024 of 26 July 2024. FINMA states that stablecoin holders generally have a payment claim against the issuer at any time, and that these claims are usually categorised as deposits under banking law or as collective investment schemes. FINMA also notes that various Swiss stablecoin issuers use default guarantees from banks, and sets minimum requirements for those guarantees. On 22 October 2025 the Federal Council opened a consultation, which ran until 6 February 2026, on an amendment to the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA) that would regulate the issuance of "stable crypto-based payment instruments" and restrict it to payment instrument institutions. That amendment is a consultation draft, not law. The State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) fact sheet says the Federal Council will submit a dispatch to Parliament in the second half of 2026 at the earliest. The rows on current practice quote FINMA guidance; the rows marked as a consultation draft quote the draft and the SIF fact sheet.

This page states what the government sources say. It is not legal advice.

Status as of 1 November 2026

Status	Rule	Since / from	Source
Published	FINMA Guidance 06/2024 "Stablecoins: risks and challenges for issuers of stablecoins and banks providing guarantees": FINMA guidance on the issuance of stablecoins, covering the classification of holders' claims, bank default guarantees and anti-money-laundering requirements.	26 July 2024	FINMA, FINMA Guidance 06/2024
Proposed	Amendment to the Financial Institutions Act (payment instrument institutions and crypto-institutions), with consequential amendments to the Financial Services Act (FinSA): consultation draft (Vernehmlassung) of 22 October 2025. The bill would regulate the issuance of stable crypto-based payment instruments and restrict their issuance to payment instrument institutions. Not enacted.	Consultation 22 October 2025 to 6 February 2026	Federal Council, SIF fact sheet, consultation draft
Statement	SIF fact sheet: the Federal Council will submit a dispatch to Parliament for approval in the second half of 2026 at the earliest. The fact sheet gives no fixed date.	Fact sheet of 22 October 2025	SIF fact sheet
Published	FINMA Guidance 01/2026: how FINMA assesses the risks associated with the custody of cryptobased assets.	12 January 2026	FINMA
In force	Sanctions: on 25 February 2026 the Federal Council decided to adopt the further measures of the European Union's 19th sanctions package against Russia, and decided on a ban on transactions with certain rouble-backed crypto assets, such as the stablecoin "A7A5". FINMA reports that the new measures enter into force on 26 February 2026.	26 February 2026	FINMA
Statement	Swiss National Bank (SNB) Financial Stability Report 2026: "Stablecoins are currently a niche phenomenon in Switzerland and therefore not a risk to financial stability."	2026 (the page shows no publication date)	SNB

Key rules

Holders' claims (FINMA guidance). FINMA states that stablecoin holders generally have a payment claim against the issuer at any time. (FINMA Guidance 06/2024)
Classification (FINMA guidance). FINMA states that these claims are usually categorised as deposits under banking law or as collective investment schemes. (FINMA Guidance 06/2024)
Bank default guarantees (FINMA guidance). FINMA notes that various stablecoin issuers in Switzerland use default guarantees from banks, which means that they do not require a FINMA banking licence on the basis of Article 5 para. 3 let. f of the Banking Ordinance, but instead only need to be affiliated to a self-regulatory organisation as a financial intermediary. (FINMA Guidance 06/2024)
Guarantee: own claim (FINMA minimum requirement). If the stablecoin issuer goes bankrupt, each customer must have their own claim against the Swiss bank issuing the default guarantee, and customers must be informed of the default guarantee. (FINMA Guidance 06/2024)
Guarantee: amount (FINMA minimum requirement). The default guarantee must cover at least the total of all public deposits, including any interest earned by customers. (FINMA Guidance 06/2024)
No deposit protection (FINMA guidance). FINMA states that stablecoin holders do not benefit from deposit protection under banking law in accordance with Article 37a of the Banking Act. (FINMA Guidance 06/2024)
Identity of holders (FINMA guidance). For issuance by supervised institutions, the identity of all persons holding the stablecoins must be adequately verified by the issuing institution or by appropriately supervised financial intermediaries. (FINMA Guidance 06/2024)
Transfer restrictions (FINMA guidance). FINMA states that contractual and technological transfer restrictions are required for the issuance of stablecoins by supervised institutions. (FINMA Guidance 06/2024)
Definition (consultation draft). Under the draft, stable crypto-based payment instruments are cryptoassets that are issued in Switzerland and are intended to retain a stable value in relation to a single state currency; there must be a right to reimbursement. (SIF fact sheet)
Issuers (consultation draft). The bill would restrict the issuance of stable crypto-based payment instruments to payment instrument institutions. The draft lets the Federal Council provide exceptions where the protective purpose of the law is not impaired. (SIF fact sheet, consultation draft)
No interest (consultation draft). The activities of licensed payment instrument institutions entail taking deposits from customers without paying interest and without engaging in active business with such deposits, such as lending. (SIF fact sheet)
Reserves (consultation draft, Art. 51i draft FinIA). Assets for stable crypto-based payment instruments must be held separately for each payment instrument issued (para. 4). One of the listed forms for holding accepted client funds is high-quality liquid assets with short residual maturities (para. 2 let. b). (consultation draft)
Redemption (consultation draft, Art. 51m draft FinIA). The holder may at any time demand repayment of the nominal value from the payment instrument institution (para. 1). Repayment must take place within a short period (para. 3). The Federal Council regulates the redemption modalities (para. 4). (consultation draft)
White paper (consultation draft). Payment instrument institutions that issue stable crypto-based payment instruments must meet various requirements and publish a white paper (information sheet). (SIF fact sheet)
Advertising (consultation draft, Art. 71k para. 1 draft FinSA). Advertising for cryptoassets for trading or for stable crypto-based payment instruments must be clearly recognisable as such. (consultation draft)
Stablecoins issued abroad (consultation draft). The fact sheet describes "cryptoassets for trading" as any cryptoassets that are neither utility tokens within the meaning of current FINMA practice nor a financial instrument, a stable crypto-based financial instrument within the meaning of the bill or a deposit under banking law, and says this also includes stablecoins issued abroad. (SIF fact sheet)
Secondary trading (consultation draft). As stable crypto-based payment instruments issued by payment instrument institutions are treated as payment instruments, the fact sheet says secondary trading in them is not subject to further regulation, apart from custody and anti-money-laundering aspects. (SIF fact sheet)
Public directory (consultation draft, Art. 51l para. 3 draft FinIA). FINMA would keep a publicly accessible directory of the stable crypto-based payment instruments issued by each payment instrument institution. (consultation draft)

Timeline

Date	Event	Source
26 July 2024	FINMA publishes Guidance 06/2024 on the issuance of stablecoins	FINMA
22 October 2025	Federal Council opens the consultation on the amendment to the Financial Institutions Act	Federal Council
12 January 2026	FINMA publishes Guidance 01/2026 on the custody of cryptobased assets	FINMA
6 February 2026	Consultation on the Financial Institutions Act amendment closes	Federal Council
26 February 2026	Sanctions measures including the ban on transactions with certain rouble-backed crypto assets such as "A7A5" enter into force	FINMA
Second half of 2026 at the earliest	Planned dispatch of the Financial Institutions Act amendment to Parliament, per the SIF fact sheet	SIF fact sheet

Not covered here

No stablecoin-specific Swiss statute in force was found in the sources this page uses; the rows on current practice are FINMA guidance. No dispatch (Botschaft) on the Financial Institutions Act amendment was found on the SIF pages read for this page, and the consultation results report was not found. The Banking Ordinance text, the explanatory report on the consultation draft and FINMA's list of authorised institutions were not read. Which exceptions the Federal Council would provide and the redemption modalities are left to the Federal Council in the draft and are not stated in the sources this page uses. The Federal Council's own release on the A7A5 sanctions measures is not quoted on this page yet; the row cites FINMA.

Sources

Updated: 2026-11-01 · Markdown version