On 22 October 2025, the Swiss Federal Council initiated a consultation on proposed amendments to Swiss financial-markets laws aimed at improving the Swiss regulatory framework applicable to stablecoins and crypto-assets.
At the institutional level, the revised Financial Institutions Act (FinIA) introduces two new regulatory licenses, respectively as (i) “Payment Instrument Institution” and as (ii) “Crypto-Institution”. At the products and services’ level, the revised Financial Services Act (FinSA) introduces new concepts of (i) “Stable Payment Crypto-Assets” and “Trading Crypto-Assets” and (ii) introduce a new set of rules applicable to crypto-assets services providers.
The consultation period runs until 6 February 2026.
After the consultation ends, the Federal Council will review stakeholder feedback, issue a report, and send a draft bill to Parliament.
Two new financial institutions under the FinIA
Payment Instrument Institutions
The license as Payment Instrument Institution shall replace the “FinTech license” introduced in the Banking Act in 2018, with the initial objective of improving financial innovation in Switzerland. In practice, the success of this FinTech license has been limited, with only four licenses granted in Switzerland, notably due to the CHF 100 million cap on the acceptance of clients’ deposits, as well as the lack of flexibility given by this license for the evolving crypto ecosystem.
First of all, the new license as a Payment Instrument Institution is not strictly reserved to the crypto industry. A Payment Instrument Institution is defined under the revised FiniA as any person who, without holding a banking license within the meaning of the Banking Act, is primarily active in the financial sector and, on a professional basis, accepts client funds or solicits such funds from the public, but does not pay interest on these funds nor invest them in any manner other than those referred to in the revised FinIA.
The Payment Instrument Institution will no longer be subject to the CHF 100 million cap on client deposits. It will however remain subject to the interdiction of interest payment on such deposits and will only be allowed to use the deposits for specific purposes, typically for ensuring the stable value of the Stable Payment Crypto-Assets issued by the institution. For this purpose, the deposits can be held in custody with another bank or Payment Instrument Institution, or they can be invested in high quality liquid assets with a short-term maturity (typically certain sovereign debt instruments).
Subject to exemption to be specified in a separate ordinance, only Payment Instrument Institutions will be entitled to issue Stable Payment Crypto-Assets, as defined under the revised FinSA. Those Stable Payment Crypto-Assets must be (i) issued in Switzerland, (ii) pegged to a single fiat currency of a sovereign state (i.e. not only Swiss francs), (iii) aimed at maintaining a constant value due to their underlying deposits or high quality investments and (iv) they must be redeemed at their fixed value to the holder upon demand.
Any stablecoin that does not fulfill the above requirements cannot be qualified as a Stable Payment Crypto-Assets.
With this proposed approach, it is noteworthy that the Swiss legislator allows the potential issuance of different Stable Payment Crypto-Assets, issued by different private Payment Instrument Institutions. With this approach, there will be potentially different Stable Payment Crypto-Assets in circulation, provided that they meet the requirements set out in the FinSA, rather than one single form of stablecoin that would, for example, be issued and controlled by a central bank. In that sense, the Swiss regulatory approach is more similar to the US approach than the approach of European Union.
In addition to the issuance of Stable Payment Crypto-Assets, Payment Instrument Institutions may also keep cryptocurrencies under the same conditions as Crypto-Institutions and may provide payment services.
In the event of an insolvency of a Payment Instrument Institution, the assets held are segregated and liquidated for the benefit of the clients or the holders of the Stable Payment Crypto-Assets, and the latter are entitled to a portion of the liquidated assets proportional to the Stable Payment Crypto-Assets held by them.
Finally, Payment Instrument Institutions, as opposed to Crypto-Institutions, will not be part of the system of cascade authorization applicable to certain other FinIA licenses. Most importantly, existing Swiss banks and securities firms will not, as such, be entitled to issue Stable Payment Crypto-Assets and they will have to incorporate a dedicated legal entity authorized by FINMA as a Payment Instrument Institution. The four entities with a FinTech license will not be required to apply for the new license, and will be automatically granted the new license, provided that they comply with new regulations within one year of its entry into force.
Crypto Institutions
A new licence will be created for entities that provide broader crypto services (custody, trading, staking) involving crypto assets custody with trading characteristics (i.e. assets outside the stablecoin / utility token categories).
This new crypto service license will allow Crypto Institutions:
- to custody crypto assets
- trade on behalf of clients
- to conduct proprietary trading
- to offer custodial staking services
Crypto Institutions will be subject to capital, liquidity, recordkeeping, segregation, and risk management requirements, but under a lighter framework than that for full securities firms.
Certain trading activities (e.g. uncovered derivatives) remain excluded and would still require securities or banking licences.
Other proposed changes
Under the Financial Services Act
Payment Instruments Institutions issuing Stable Payment Crypto-Assets and Crypto-Institutions providing services or issuing Trading Crypto-Assets will be subject to the FinSA.
Trading Crypto-Assets will not be considered as financial instruments per se and therefore will not be subject to an asset management license, but would however be subject to a specific set of rules similar to the one applicable to financial instruments, i.e. (i) rules of conduct for the provision of financial services over Trading Crypto-Assets (e.g. client classification, appropriateness or suitability assessments or information duties), (ii) duty to publish a whitepaper in case of public offer of Trading Crypto-Assets, listing of Trading Crypto-Assets and issuance of Stable Payment Crypto-Assets (subject to exemption, notably if the investors/purchasers are only professional clients), (iii) rules governing advertising for Trading Crypto-Assets and issuance of Stable Payment Crypto-Assets.
The proposed regulatory approach is based on the existing FinSA approach, thus facilitating the implementation of the new rules and their practical application.
Under the Anti-Money Laundering Act
Payment Instrument Institutions issuing Stable Payment Crypto-Assets will, in particular, be required to:
- assess, identify, limit, and monitor the risks associated with the use of Stable Payment Crypto-Assets on the secondary market prior to issuance, as part of their overall risk management framework (for example, by maintaining a list of wallets excluded from transactions or by ensuring that all holders are verified through equivalently supervised financial intermediaries;
- maintain the technical ability to block transactions, as well as to freeze and claw back individual Stable Payment Crypto-Assets on the secondary market.
Those measures must be described in the whitepaper.
Conclusions
The proposed legislative approach of the Federal Council is in line with previous improvements of Swiss law relating to distributed ledger technologies, with different amendments to existing legislations, rather than a separate and specific new regulation, such as the MICA Regulation in the European Union.
The reform marks a strong signal: Switzerland intends to remain a leading hub in digital finance, adapting to new market dynamics and regulatory trends.
By removing restrictive caps and enabling stablecoin issuance, the new regime could attract innovators who have been operating elsewhere under more favorable conditions.
This draft legal framework will of course be subject to amendments further to the consultation process and separate ordinances will be published at a later stage, specifying the exemption regimes and important technical requirements (e.g., capital requirements).
That said, the proposed amendments represent significant improvements of the Swiss regulatory framework for the crypto ecosystem, ahead of international developments in this sector and demonstrating Switzerland’s willingness to keep up as a leading player in the crypto industry.
With the absence of cascade authorization for the license as Payment Instruments Institutions, Swiss banks and securities firms will have to assess whether they wish to issue their own Stable Payment Crypto-Assets and to initiate a licensing process with FINMA for this purpose.
Bonnard Lawson International Law Firm will continue to monitor further developments, including the draft ordinances that will follow the consultation, and support you with tailored advice on the implications for your institution and projects.
Should you wish to discuss the impact of the proposed amendments on your business model or to prepare for the transition, please feel free to contact us.
Florian Ducommun
Jérémie Tenot