At a glance: list of crypto services

Below is a list of the crypto services that have appeared on the market to date. In terms of supervisory law, the focus is on the risk-adequate treatment of these services. It is always important to achieve the right balance between openness to innovation and the protection the financial market and investors.

Keyword	Useful links
Crowdfunding	Fact sheet: crowdfunding (2020)
Decentralised finance (DeFi)	Use of DeFi by licensed financial market institutions (AR 2022, p. 21) Risks (Risk Monitor 2022, p. 19 f.) Regulatory treatment (AR 2021, p. 19 f., AR 2022, p. 21)
Digital client onboarding	Digital client onboarding (AR 2021, p. 18) Circular 2016/7: Video and online identification (2021)
DLT payment system	DLT-based payment systems (AR 2020, p. 28 f.)
FinTech licence	Licensed persons pursuant to Article 1b BA Guidelines on licensing and changes to licences (2023) Disclosure requirements Guidelines on licence assessment (2019) Status of FinTech licence (AR 2021, p. 18 f.)
Trading of DLT securities	Guidelines on licensing as a DLT trading facility (2021) Stock exchange and central securities depository approved for the first time for the trading of tokens (AR 2021. p. 20) Trading of DLT securities (AR 2021, p. 18 f.) Trading platforms in the blockchain environment (AR 2018, p. 31 f.)
Initial coin offerings (ICOs), issuance of “cryptocurrencies”	ICO guidelines (2018) Guidelines stable coins (2019) Overview of enquiries as at 2023 (AR 2023, p. 29 f.)
Riskwarnings for cryptoassets	Fact sheet: cryptoassets (2022) Protecting yourself against investment fraud involving virtual currencies
Crypto funds and ETPs	Exchange-traded products based on cryptocurrencies (AR 2023, p. 65; AR 2022, p. 19 f.) Press release: approval of first Swiss cryptofund (2021)
Custody of crypto assets	Changes brought about by the DLT Act (AR 2021, p. 18 f.)
Crypto exchanges and money laundering supervision in the crypto area	Money laundering supervision in the crypto area (AR 2021, p. 32 f.) Guidance 02/2019 – Payments on the blockchain (2019) Dossier on money laundering prevention
Artificial intelligence	Artificial intelligence: FINMA sets out its supervisory expectations (AR 2023, p. 32 f.) New specialist unit for artificial intelligence (AR 2022, p. 22 f.) Artificial intelligence in the Swiss financial market (AR 2021, p. 20 f.) Guidance 08/2024 on governance and risk management when using artificial intelligence Initial insights from supervision in the area of AI reveal shortcomings in risk management (AR, p. 51) FINMA survey: artificial intelligence gaining traction at Swiss financial institutions
NFT	NFT (AR 2022, p. 20 f.)
Sandbox	Introduction of the Swiss sandbox (AR 2017, p. 38)
Stable coins	Issue of stable coins by supervised institutions (AR 2021, p. 19.) Guidelines on stable coins (2019) Expectations regarding stablecoin projects formulated (AR, p. 53) Guidance 06/2024 on stablecoins
Staking	Guidance 08/2023 – Staking (2023) Implementation of supervisory expectations in connection with staking (AR, p. 53)
Travel rule	Money laundering supervision in the crypto area (AR 2021, p. 32 f.) Guidance 02/2019 – Payments on the blockchain (2019)
Enquiry to FINMA	Does my FinTech service require a licence? Swift processing of FinTech authorisation enquiries (AR 2023, p. 29) FinTech desk (AR 2016, p. 24)
Further information	Protecting yourself against investment fraud involving virtual currencies Dossier on money laundering prevention
External links	CGMF report: National risk assessment (NRA) – risk of money laundering and terrorist financing posed by cryptoassets (2024) MROS Annual Report (2022) Digital finance report published by the Federal Council (2022) SIF crypto factsheet (2022) DLT Act: explanatory report (2021) DLT Act: dispatch (2020) DLT report published by the Federal Council (2018) SBA guidelines on opening corporate accounts for blockchain companies (2019)