Crypto assets and digital assets: tax treatment

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Geneva wealth management is opening up to crypto assets and digital assets, the regulatory framework of which Part K will describe. Their tax treatment in Switzerland follows the general principles: they are taxable assets, valued at the end of the tax period, and capital gains on them realised by private individuals are in principle exempt, subject to classification as professional trading.¹ Income derived from staking or lending crypto assets is taxable as income.

These relatively favourable principles have contributed to Switzerland’s attractiveness for holders of crypto assets and digital assets, some of whom have settled in the country. They require precise documentation of positions and transactions, which custodian institutions must be able to provide. The automatic exchange of information is, moreover, being extended to crypto assets, under a framework developed by the OECD that Switzerland is implementing.²

Notes

Federal Tax Administration, working paper Les cryptomonnaies et les initial coin/token offerings (ICO/ITO) comme objet de l’impôt sur la fortune, le revenu et le bénéfice, l’impôt anticipé et les droits de timbre (Cryptocurrencies and initial coin/token offerings as an object of wealth, income and profit tax, withholding tax and stamp duties), 27 August 2019, updated version of 3 August 2022 (estv.admin.ch): payment tokens form part of movable capital and are subject to cantonal wealth tax; profits realised within private assets constitute tax-free capital gains; remuneration from mining and staking is taxable income. ↩
Federal Council, consultation opened on 14 August 2024 (until 15 November 2024) on the designation of partner States (admin.ch); dispatch of 19 February 2025 on the legal bases; press release of 6 June 2025: dispatch on the list of 74 partner States (EU member States, the United Kingdom and most G20 members; the United States, China and Saudi Arabia absent), entry into force planned for 1 January 2026 and first exchange in 2027, exchange taking place only with interested States that meet the conditions of the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework; see Centre de droit bancaire et financier (Jeanneret, 10 June 2025, cdbf.ch). ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

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Crypto assets and digital assets: tax treatment

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?