Taxation of crypto in Switzerland: a founder's guide
Switzerland is one of the most mature jurisdictions for digital assets — but “crypto-friendly” does not mean “without rules”. Here is what a founder needs to know.
First, the classification: what kind of token is it?
Everything starts from the nature of the token, according to FINMA practice:
- Utility token: grants access to a service or a platform.
- Payment token: acts as a means of payment (the “classic” cryptocurrencies).
- Asset / security token: embeds financial rights (participation, dividend, debt) — treated as a security.
Classification determines marketing, compliance obligations and taxation. Getting it wrong upstream is the most expensive mistake: that is why, where needed, we produce a legal opinion.
Taxation for individuals
For the private person holding crypto as wealth:
- Wealth tax: crypto forms part of net wealth, valued at year-end.
- Capital gains: for the private person managing their own wealth, in principle exempt — but beware the threshold of professional securities dealing, which changes everything.
- Income: staking, mining and airdrops can constitute taxable income.
Taxation for companies
For the company holding or operating in crypto:
- Digital assets enter the balance sheet and contribute to taxable profit and capital.
- The bookkeeping must correctly track valuations, realisations and exchange rates.
- VAT has specific treatment depending on whether it concerns means of payment or services.
What you need, in practice
- Classification of the token and, if necessary, a legal opinion.
- Structuring of the issuance (whitepaper, terms, entity) and AML safeguards: KYC, travel rule, monitoring.
- Accounting and taxation of the assets, integrated with the rest of the company.
- Crypto-friendly banking for operating accounts and capital accounts.
Activities subject to authorisation — custody, VASP — require FINMA/SRO classification and, until the perimeter is formalised, are carried out through authorised partners.
This guide is informational and does not constitute tax or legal advice. The crypto perimeter is evolving: we always verify the specific case.
Do you have a token project or need to put your company’s crypto taxation in order? Let’s talk.