FINMA-Licensed Crypto Banks

Full Swiss banking authorisation under the Banking Act + 2021 DLT Act. Mandatory customer-asset segregation; esisuisse deposit guarantee on fiat.

Verified May 2026 · 2 full-bank holders + adjacent Swiss licensees

Reviewed by Stephan Kulik · Last updated: 2026-05-27 · How we rank

Short answer

Only two crypto-native operators hold a FULL Swiss FINMA banking licence: Sygnum Bank and AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA). Both are regulated under the Federal Banking Act + 2021 DLT Act. Fiat deposits are covered by the Swiss esisuisse scheme (CHF 100k); crypto holdings are NOT insured but ARE segregated by statute in insolvency. Other Swiss crypto firms (Bitcoin Suisse, Crypto Finance, Taurus) hold narrower FINMA securities or asset-manager licences, not full bank licences. Sygnum is currently the only one in our ranked roster.

The FINMA banking framework

Switzerland's Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) administers the Federal Banking Act of 1934 — one of the oldest and most prudentially-rigorous bank-supervision regimes globally. A full FINMA banking licence permits deposit-taking, lending, securities business, and custody. Holders are subject to Basel III capital adequacy + liquidity coverage ratio rules, ongoing prudential supervision, and mandatory membership in the esisuisse deposit guarantee scheme (CHF 100,000 per depositor on covered fiat deposits).

Until 2019, no crypto-native operator held a Swiss banking licence. That year FINMA awarded full banking licences to both Sygnum and SEBA Bank (rebranded AMINA in 2024), creating the first regulated category of "digital-asset banks" in Switzerland. The 2021 DLT Act then clarified the legal status of tokenised assets and explicitly required segregation of customer crypto in insolvency proceedings.

What the DLT Act (2021) added

The Federal Act on the Adaptation of Federal Law to Developments in Distributed Ledger Technology — "DLT Act" — entered into force in February (Code of Obligations amendments) and August (Banking Act + Financial Market Infrastructure Act amendments) of 2021. For crypto-bank customers the two most-important provisions are:

Banking Act Article 16: customer crypto held by a bank must be segregable in insolvency proceedings. The bank's liquidator must return identifiable customer crypto to its owner, treating it as property rather than as a general claim against the estate. This is the legal grounding for "your crypto is yours" at Sygnum and AMINA — and a stronger statutory protection than US Chapter 11 estates have provided retail crypto-platform customers.
DLT Trading Facility licence: a new lighter-weight authorisation class for tokenised-securities venues. Holders can operate a multilateral trading facility for DLT-securities without the full bank licence. Existing full-bank holders (Sygnum, AMINA) can run DLT trading facilities under their existing licence; non-bank operators apply separately.

The ranked FINMA-licensed crypto banks

Two full-bank holders are now in our reviewed roster:

Sygnum Bank — FINMA banking licence since 2019; HQ Zürich + Singapore branch (CMS licence under MAS); EU access via Luxembourg CSSF MiCA CASP (2025). Institutional and HNW focus. Score 5.9/10 in our framework — high regulatory safety (10/10) offset by institutional-only minimums and limited retail UX.
AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA Bank, rebranded 2024) — FINMA banking licence since 2019; HQ Zug + Hong Kong SFC-licensed subsidiary + Abu Dhabi ADGM subsidiary. Institutional + HNW only. Score 5.6/10 in our framework — structurally a direct peer to Sygnum (same FINMA full-bank class) with stronger GCC institutional footprint via ADGM but currently no EU MiCA passport (in progress).

Other crypto firms adjacent to FINMA full-bank licensing

Bitcoin Suisse — operates under a Swiss securities-firm authorisation (under the Financial Institutions Act / FinIA), NOT a full banking licence. Provides custody and trading; cannot take deposits. Long Swiss operating history (founded 2013) and explicit FINMA AML supervision, but a different regulatory class than Sygnum and AMINA.
Crypto Finance AG (part of Deutsche Börse Group since 2021) — holds FINMA securities-firm + asset-manager licences. Institutional brokerage; not retail.
Taurus — Swiss-domiciled custody-tech platform, regulated as a financial intermediary under AMLA but not a bank. Provides custody infrastructure to other licensed institutions.
21Shares — Swiss ETP issuer, not a bank. Sometimes mis-categorised.

FINMA vs MiCA: which is stronger for an EU customer?

FINMA banking licensing carries higher capital and prudential standards than a MiCA CASP authorisation (which is service-provider-level, not bank-level). Specifically: FINMA full banks meet Basel III's full Pillar 1-3 regime; MiCA CASPs operate under a service-provider own-funds requirement that ranges €50,000–€150,000 depending on services. For pure prudential strength, a FINMA-licensed crypto-bank is stronger.

BUT: a Swiss bank licence does NOT automatically passport into the EU. To serve EU customers directly, a Swiss bank must obtain a separate EU authorisation. Sygnum did this via a Luxembourg CSSF MiCA CASP (2025). AMINA is in MiCA-CASP application progress. The practical question for an EU customer is "does this Swiss bank hold the EU passport I need" rather than "FINMA vs MiCA in the abstract."

What FINMA does not cover

Crypto holdings are not insured. esisuisse covers fiat deposits only. If Sygnum or AMINA failed, your fiat deposits up to CHF 100k would be paid out by esisuisse; your crypto would be returned via the Banking Act Article 16 segregation regime — which assumes the crypto is recoverable from custody. Lost private keys or smart-contract failures on the bank's side are not covered.
No retroactive protection. The DLT Act came into force August 2021. Any customer crypto held with a FINMA-licensed bank before 2021 was under the pre-DLT regime; new deposits are under the segregation regime.
US customers are typically excluded. Both Sygnum and AMINA exclude US persons from retail products due to SEC/CFTC overlap concerns.

How to verify a FINMA licence

FINMA publishes an authorised-entity register at finma.ch/en/finma-public. Search by entity name; the register shows licence type (full bank vs. securities firm vs. asset manager vs. DLT trading facility), issue date, and current status. Treat the FINMA register — not the operator's marketing material — as the source of truth. Sygnum is listed as a "Bank"; AMINA Bank is listed as a "Bank" (replaced "SEBA Bank" entry in 2024).

Switzerland tax interaction

Swiss-domiciled customers benefit from the private-investor capital-gains exemption (zero CGT on disposal gains as long as the FINMA-private-trader criteria are met) on top of bank-level deposit protection. See Crypto Taxes Switzerland for the full framework (Circular 36 thresholds, wealth-tax interaction by canton, professional- trader reclassification triggers).

Where to read further

See best crypto banks in Switzerland, our Sygnum Bank review, is Sygnum safe?, and best crypto banks in Europe for adjacent options.

Disclaimer

This page is general information, not financial advice. Regulatory status changes; always verify directly on FINMA's public register before making deposit decisions. See terms.

Frequently asked questions

What is a FINMA banking licence? +

A FINMA banking licence is a full-bank authorisation issued by Switzerland's Financial Market Supervisory Authority under the Federal Banking Act (1934, last amended 2024). It permits the holder to take deposits from the public, conduct securities business, and provide custody of customer assets. Holders are subject to Basel III capital adequacy rules, the Swiss Deposit Guarantee Scheme (esisuisse) covering up to CHF 100,000 per depositor on fiat deposits, and FINMA's ongoing prudential supervision. The 2021 DLT Act added a separate "DLT trading facility" licence category for tokenised-securities venues, but the headline banking licence is what crypto-banks like Sygnum and AMINA hold.

Does FINMA licensing guarantee my crypto holdings? +

No. The esisuisse deposit-guarantee scheme covers fiat deposits at FINMA-licensed banks up to CHF 100,000, but it does NOT cover crypto holdings — no scheme insures crypto globally. What FINMA licensing DOES provide for crypto: mandatory segregation of customer crypto assets from bank balance-sheet assets (DLT Act Article 16), which means in a bank insolvency your crypto is treated as your property, not as a general claim against the failed bank. This is structurally stronger than at unregulated exchanges where customer crypto can become a creditor claim.

How is FINMA different from MiCA? +

FINMA licensing is Swiss-domestic; MiCA is EU/EEA-wide. A FINMA-licensed Swiss bank does NOT automatically passport into the EU under MiCA — Sygnum, for example, obtained a separate Luxembourg CSSF MiCA CASP authorisation in 2025 to serve EU customers under MiCA. FINMA licensing typically carries higher capital and prudential standards than a MiCA CASP authorisation (which is service-provider-level, not bank-level), but only covers the Swiss home market unless paired with EU passporting through another authorisation.

Which crypto banks actually hold a FINMA banking licence? +

As of 2026: Sygnum Bank (banking licence since 2019) and AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA Bank, banking licence since 2019) are the two crypto-native operators with full FINMA banking licences. Bitcoin Suisse operates under a Swiss securities-firm authorisation, not a banking licence. Crypto Finance AG (now part of Deutsche Börse) holds FINMA securities-firm and asset-manager licences. Taurus operates under a Swiss banking-affiliate model. The full-bank licence is rare; most Swiss crypto players hold narrower FINMA authorisations.

What is the Swiss DLT Act and how does it relate? +

The DLT Act (formally: the Federal Act on the Adaptation of Federal Law to Developments in Distributed Ledger Technology) entered into force in stages in 2021. It does two main things for crypto-banks: (1) it amends the Code of Obligations to recognise "register uncertificated securities" (tokenised securities with full legal equivalence), and (2) it amends the Banking Act to require segregation of customer crypto assets in the event of bank insolvency. The DLT Act ALSO creates a separate "DLT trading facility" licence category (a lighter regime than a full bank) for tokenised-securities venues — but holders of full banking licences (Sygnum, AMINA) can run DLT trading facilities under their existing banking authorisation.

Are FINMA-licensed banks available to non-Swiss customers? +

Sygnum and AMINA both serve non-Swiss customers, but jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction. Sygnum reaches EU customers via its Luxembourg CSSF MiCA CASP and Singapore MAS CMS licence. AMINA serves Hong Kong via a separate licence and is in MiCA-CASP application progress for the EU. US customers are generally excluded from both. For tax-residency benefits a Swiss-domiciled depositor receives the strongest treatment (esisuisse + Swiss private-investor capital-gains exemption); non-Swiss customers should consult on whether Swiss vs. their home-jurisdiction licensing better protects their specific situation.