The reform of 2025 and 2026: payment instrument institutions and crypto-institutions

The consultation draft

On 22 October 2025 the Federal Council opened a consultation on an amendment of the Financial Institutions Act that would introduce two new licence categories. The consultation ran until 6 February 2026. The Federal Council stated that it wished to strengthen Switzerland's competitiveness as a centre for fintech and blockchain, to implement international standards and to improve the protection of investors and consumers together with financial stability.¹ The draft would place the new institutions in FinIA, next to portfolio managers, trustees, fund management companies and securities firms, and supervise them under the same principles. In the language of the draft they would become a further level in the graduated system of licences that FinIA established in 2020.

The first category is the payment instrument institution (Zahlungsmittelinstitut). It would replace the FinTech licence of Article 1b BankA. Such an institution would accept client funds without paying interest and without engaging in lending or other credit business. The ceiling of CHF 100 million would be abolished, and client funds would be segregated in the event of the institution's failure. The payment instrument institution would also be the only type of institution entitled to issue a special category of stablecoin, the value-stable crypto-based payment instrument.² The second category is the crypto-institution (Krypto-Institut). It would provide services in cryptobased assets that have trading characteristics, such as custody including staking, trading for clients, short-term proprietary trading and exchange. Utility tokens, financial instruments, value-stable payment instruments and bank deposits would fall outside its scope. The licensing requirements would be modelled on those for securities firms, but less stringent.³

Stablecoins as payment instruments

The core of the draft lies in the rules on stablecoins. A value-stable crypto-based payment instrument is a crypto-based asset that aims to maintain a stable value in relation to a single official currency. Its holders would have a claim for redemption against the issuing institution. Issuers would have to keep the reserves fully covered, diversified and in the same currency as the redemption claim. They would hold them as sight deposits with banks or in high-quality liquid assets, and they would have to ensure redemption at nominal value at any time.⁴ Before the issue they would publish a white paper under the Financial Services Act and notify FINMA at least sixty days in advance. The client funds and reserves would be separable in the bankruptcy of the institution. Secondary trading in such tokens would be lightly regulated, apart from custody and anti-money laundering rules. The anti-money laundering requirements would incorporate and specify the international standards.⁵

The draft thereby resolves the conflict that Guidance 06/2024 had exposed. Under current law an issuer must identify all holders of its stablecoins, which is incompatible with free circulation. The draft would allow the circulation of a regulated stablecoin while placing anti-money laundering duties on the intermediaries that deal in it. For this category of tokens the draft also provides for the blocking of addresses, the practice known as blacklisting. For the issuer of a Swiss franc stablecoin in Lugano this would open a path that does not exist today: a licence of its own, without a bank guarantee, and a token that can circulate among wallets.

Notes

1. Federal Council, media release "Federal Council moves forward with stablecoins and crypto: consultation launched", 22 October 2025, https://www.admin.ch/en/newnsb/x4TMWQ1SWofNoFx7XyHhY (consultation until 6 February 2026; aims of competitiveness, international standards, investor and consumer protection and financial stability). ↩
2. Federal Council, media release of 22 October 2025 (above) (payment instrument institutions replace the FinTech licence; CHF 100 million cap eliminated; client funds segregated; special category of stablecoin); Mondaq, "FinIA Reform" (above) (acceptance of customer funds "without paying interest and without engaging in lending or other credit-related business"). ↩
3. Mondaq, "FinIA Reform" (above) (custody including staking, client trading, short-term proprietary trading, exchange; exclusions); Federal Council, media release of 22 October 2025 (above) (requirements modelled on securities firms "but less stringent"; conflicts of interest). ↩
4. Bär & Karrer, "Swiss Federal Council launches legislative process for proposed new regulation on stable coins and crypto services", 22 October 2025, https://www.baerkarrer.ch/fr/publications/swiss-federal-council-launches-legislative-process-for-proposed-new-regulation-on-stable-coins-and-crypto-services (reserves "fully covered, diversified and in the same currency as the redemption claim", Art. 51q draft FinIA; sight deposits or high-quality liquid assets, Art. 51i; redemption "at nominal value at any time", Arts. 51l–51m). ↩
5. Bär & Karrer (above) (white paper under FinSA; notification "at least 60 days" before the first issue; staking by crypto-institutions only on a separate written agreement, Art. 51z draft FinIA); SIF, Faktenblatt Stablecoins (above) (definition with reference to "einer einzigen staatlichen Währung"; redemption claim; separability in bankruptcy; white paper; light regulation of secondary trading except custody and AML; international AML standards "aufgenommen und konkretisiert"). ↩

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 August 2025.