Stablecoin Licence Switzerland: What the New Payment Instrument Institution Will Allow.
Switzerland is about to break with its own method.
For years, the Swiss approach to financial innovation has been technology-neutral: same business, same risks, same rules. FINMA does not look at the label. It looks at what a product actually does and applies the law that already exists. That was the line of the Federal Council’s 2018 report on blockchain, and it has served Switzerland well.
Stablecoins are where this method reached its limits. Under current law, a stablecoin is analysed as a bank deposit, as a collective investment scheme, or as an anti-money laundering matter. None of these boxes fits:
- A banking licence is out of proportion for an issuer that does not lend the money.
- The bank guarantee route is a workaround. The Federal Council itself says it is used to stay outside the licensing framework.
- The anti-money laundering rule requiring every holder to be identified makes a coin practically unusable on a public blockchain.
The result: the organic approach produced Swiss stablecoins that do not circulate. And FINMA could not fix it. It applies the law; it does not create licences. Only Parliament can.
Tailor Made Licenses
Switzerland has created tailor-made licences before, when the existing boxes did not fit: the FinTech licence in 2019, then the DLT trading facility under the DLT Act in 2021. What is new this time is that the licence is built around a type of product: the stablecoin backed by a single currency, with its own rules on reserves, redemption and anti-money laundering. That is a real departure from technology neutrality.
There is also outside pressure. The European Union has MiCA, the United States has the GENIUS Act, and Hong Kong has its own stablecoin regime. Without clear rules, Switzerland was losing issuers to other jurisdictions.
The answer is a new licence: the payment instrument institution. Here is what it would allow, what it would not, and where the bill stands today.
Where the bill stands today
The Federal Council opened the consultation on 22 October 2025. It closed on 6 February 2026. The Federal Council announced its dispatch to Parliament for the second half of 2026 at the earliest.
As of 14 October 2026, no dispatch has been adopted and the bill is not before Parliament. We checked the Federal Council’s pages and Parliament’s own database. No date of entry into force has been set. The Swiss Bankers Association expects 2028 at the earliest.
So everything below describes the consultation draft. Details may still change. The direction will not.
What counts as a Swiss stablecoin
The draft calls it a “value-stable crypto-based payment instrument”. To qualify, a coin must:
- be issued in Switzerland;
- refer to the value of one state currency (Swiss franc, dollar, euro or any other single currency);
- be backed by reserves held under the new rules;
- carry the issuer’s obligation to repay its fixed value.
A coin backed by a basket of currencies, by gold or by crypto-assets is not a Swiss stablecoin. Neither is a stablecoin issued abroad. These fall into a different category: “crypto-assets with trading character”.
Who may issue
Only a payment instrument institution. This is the new licence that replaces the current FinTech licence, which we analyse in Switzerland Is Replacing Its FinTech Licence.
The surprise is the banks. Under the draft, a banking licence does not cover this activity. A bank that wants to issue a stablecoin would need a separate company with its own licence. Homburger and Schellenberg Wittmer, among others, have argued that banks should be allowed to issue directly. Want to know what this means for your project? Talk to us.
The Federal Council may also allow exceptions. A coin issued under an exception must say clearly, in its white paper and in every advertisement, that the issuer is not supervised by FINMA and that the coin is not a Swiss stablecoin.
The rules for the issuer
- Reserves. Client funds are kept separate from the issuer’s own money, in sight deposits or short-term, high-quality liquid assets, in the same currency as the coin. The reserves must always at least equal the coins in circulation, and each coin has its own reserve.
- Redemption. Holders can ask for repayment at nominal value at any time, and the issuer must pay within a short time.
- No interest. The issuer may not pay interest on the coin and may not lend client funds. It may keep the income from the reserves.
- Insolvency. If the issuer fails, the reserves are separated from the bankruptcy estate and paid to holders. This is not deposit insurance, but it is real protection.
- White paper and notice. The issuer must notify FINMA at least 60 days before the first issuance and publish a white paper no later than the first issuance. FINMA keeps a public register of Swiss stablecoins.
- Capital. Paid-in minimum capital and own funds, with the amounts left to the implementing ordinance. Nobody can give you the figure yet.
- Large issuers. The Swiss National Bank can designate an issuer as significant, which brings a stabilisation and redemption plan.
The anti-money laundering change
This is the most practical change of the whole reform.
Today, FINMA expects the identity of every holder to be verified, which is why Swiss stablecoins hardly circulate on public blockchains. The draft keeps full checks at issuance and redemption. On the secondary market, the issuer can instead keep a list of excluded wallets, and must always be able to block, freeze and take back a coin.
In plain words: a Swiss stablecoin could finally circulate freely, as long as the issuer keeps control over suspicious wallets. Industry associations have criticised the limits of this relief, and FINMA’s rules on transfers to private wallets could still complicate it.
Foreign stablecoins stay in
USDT, USDC and other coins issued abroad are not banned. They become crypto-assets with trading character: they can be offered in Switzerland with a white paper, and a Swiss firm that holds them for clients or trades them for clients will need the new crypto-institution licence.
This is a sharp contrast with the European Union, where exchanges can no longer list stablecoins whose issuer is not authorised in the EU. We will come back to this in a later article of this series.
What existing players should do now
- FinTech licence holders move into the new regime without a new licence and get one year to comply. A FinTech licence may become a shortcut to stablecoin issuance. The head start is real, but it will not last: once the new licences open, holders will no longer be four or five, but potentially dozens.
- Issuers using a bank guarantee today should plan the move to a licence. The guarantee route stays narrow, as we explain in Swiss Issuing Stablecoin with a SRO.
- Crypto firms affiliated to an SRO that hold or trade foreign stablecoins for clients will likely need the crypto-institution licence, and must file within one year of entry into force.
- Banks should think about a separate entity now, unless the final law changes.
- Buyers should look at the licence perimeter of any target: see what to check before buying a Swiss regulated company.
Our view
The draft is good news. For the first time, a Swiss stablecoin would have clear rules: full reserves, redemption at par, protection in bankruptcy, and a realistic answer to anti-money laundering on public blockchains.
But two questions remain open. Will banks be allowed to issue directly? And will the capital requirements make the licence affordable for anyone other than large players? The answers will come with the dispatch and the ordinance.
Planning a stablecoin from Switzerland, or holding a licence that could become one? Write to insight@fintechlex.com.
Based on the Federal Council’s consultation draft of 22 October 2025 (amendments to the Financial Institutions Act, the Financial Services Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act) and the State Secretariat for International Finance factsheet. Status checked on 14 October 2026. General information, not legal advice.
