Tax transparency: the crypto reporting framework

Exchange-traded products and the retail market

A further sign of maturity is the market for exchange-traded products on crypto-assets. Several issuers have listed products on the SIX Swiss Exchange that track Bitcoin, ether and baskets of tokens, which retail investors can buy through ordinary securities accounts. The Zug-based issuer 21Shares was among the pioneers and became one of the largest issuers of crypto exchange-traded products in Europe.¹ These products brought crypto-assets and Digital Assets into the portfolios of investors who would not have opened an account at a crypto exchange. They also placed the issuers under the rules of the stock exchange and of Swiss prospectus law.

Tax transparency: the crypto reporting framework

Tax transparency has reached the crypto industry. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development adopted the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework in 2022. It obliges crypto service providers to report information on their clients' transactions to the tax authorities, which exchange it with the authorities of the clients' countries of residence. The framework complements the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts, in which Switzerland has participated since 2017.² Switzerland has decided to implement it, although the crypto-asset rules will apply from 2027 at the earliest, as Part H explains. For the crypto service providers of Zug, the framework means new reporting obligations and new systems. For their clients, it ends the possibility of holding crypto-assets through a Swiss provider without the knowledge of their home tax authority. Part F discusses the effect of the earlier exchange of information on private banking, which offers a parallel.

Notes

21Shares, press release "Amun changes its name to 21Shares", 3 March 2020, globenewswire.com: incorporated in Zug, first listed crypto index product (HODL) in November 2018, "one of the world's leading issuers of crypto exchange-traded" products; Greater Zurich Area, "21Shares achieves crypto asset milestone", 19 August 2020, greaterzuricharea.com: 75 per cent of the volume of crypto products on SIX Swiss Exchange. en.wikipedia.org ("21Shares") now gives Zurich as the company's location. ↩
EY Tax News, "OECD publishes final Crypto-Assets Reporting Framework and amendments to Common Reporting Standard", 17 October 2022, taxnews.ey.com: OECD published the final CARF on 10 October 2022. State Secretariat for International Finance, "Automatic exchange of information on financial accounts", sif.admin.ch: legal basis for the AEOI in force in Switzerland since 1 January 2017. Federal Council, press release of 6 June 2025 on the message approving the list of 74 partner states for the automatic exchange of information on crypto-assets, admin.ch/de/newnsb/1QknKQ4iBGdl3Q7I4CL7b: entry into force on 1 January 2026, first exchanges in 2027; the Federal Council's decision of 26 November 2025, cited in Part H, deferred the application of the crypto-asset provisions. ↩

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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Tax transparency: the crypto reporting framework

Exchange-traded products and the retail market

Tax transparency: the crypto reporting framework

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?