Swiss bank UBS has started a direct bitcoin and ethereum trading service for some private banking clients from January 2026.

On May 12 local time, blockchain media outlet BeInCrypto reported that the move is being assessed as putting the spread of crypto services in Switzerland’s banking sector into a full-scale popularisation stage.

Earlier, Zurich Cantonal Bank and PostFinance launched crypto services in 2024. This allowed more than 2.5 million Swiss accounts to access crypto. About 20 banks in Switzerland currently provide crypto services, the highest level by country.

Market reaction differed from initial expectations. Zurich Cantonal Bank began crypto custody and trading services in early 2024 and expected an inflow of younger customers, but the actual user base was different. Peter Hublie (피터 후블리), head of digital assets at Zurich Cantonal Bank, said, "We expected younger customers to flock in, but in reality that was not the case at all."

The average crypto buyer at Zurich Cantonal Bank was aged 30 to 50, with a high proportion of men. The share of private banking clients was also larger than in retail banking. More than 40 percent of customers who newly opened a crypto custody account previously had no investment portfolio within the bank. The funds were analysed as having remained in cash until then.

The contribution to earnings is also at a level that makes it hard to view it as a side business. Maerki Baumann said more than 20 percent of the bank’s revenue is linked to digital asset activity. Swissquote explained that crypto accounts for about 10 percent of total revenue, and Swiss Arab Bank also calculated that the share of assets under management is 5 percent but the contribution to net profit is 7 percent.

This trend is not limited to Switzerland. In a survey conducted by EY-Parthenon and Coinbase of more than 350 institutional investors in January 2026, 73 percent of respondents said they plan to increase the share of digital assets this year. The share that said they have used stablecoins or are interested in using them was 84 percent. The survey included asset managers, family offices and private banks.

The points that institutional investors were most concerned about were custody security and regulatory clarity. Swiss banks have responded to this issue based on the 2021 Distributed Ledger Technology Act and bank-grade custody infrastructure such as Taurus and Sygnum.

Still, it is unclear whether Switzerland’s advantage will continue. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) crypto asset reporting framework will take effect from Jan. 1, 2027. This will end an environment that relied on tax opacity. Switzerland’s financial market supervisor FINMA is also revising its authorisation framework based on a public consultation that ended in February 2026. The new regulatory framework is expected to bring changes to custody and stablecoin rules, and some assessments say some provisions are similar to the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework.

Concerns have also been raised about the regulatory direction. Ilya Volkov (일리야 볼코프), a board member of the Crypto Valley Association, warned that excessive regulatory intervention could weaken Switzerland’s pragmatic strengths. Observers say whether Switzerland’s banking sector can remain a leader as a crypto finance hub depends on the direction of this regulatory overhaul.