BancaStato, the cantonal bank of Ticino in the south of Switzerland, has launched crypto trading rules, a service that allows customers to buy, hold, and sell bitcoin in the bank’s web and mobile applications, digital economy bank Sygnum said on Thursday.
The bank linked Sygnum’s software interface with its Avaloq banking system and digital channels, a setup that places bitcoin transactions within the same software that customers use for traditional accounts.
At launch, customers can trade bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies with market orders placed by quantity or value of the US dollar.
Bitcoin is at the center of the offering, an example of European banks that have increased crypto services. BancaStato Customers have access to the asset through a regulated process rather than a private exchange, and their assets are in Sygnum’s hands rather than the bank’s own funds.
Sygnum said the customer’s assets are stored in a multi-level, multi-storage system built on hardware and software controls, control systems, and independent external counters. The company said all customer assets are removed from the standards and follow the rules, a system that is supposed to protect money if the bank goes into bankruptcy.
An important point for bitcoin owners, since the bearer is held on paper currency it is separate from the claims of defaulting creditors.
The integration runs Sygnum’s B2B API without an order management system, a process the companies said cuts costs and complexity. “BancaStato, being the first bank on Avaloq’s SaaS ecosystem to enable customers to buy, hold and sell crypto via API and Sygnum directly from its e-banking platforms, is an important indicator of the maturity and scalability of the legal infrastructure of the digital economy,” said Fritz Jost, CEO of Sygnum B2B.
Founded in 1915, BancaStato runs its first digital banking solutions on the Avaloq platform in a software-as-a-service environment. Curzio De Gottardi, head of products and services at the bank and vice-chairman of its executive board, presented the launch as an extension of an existing strategy. “Our seamless integration of traditional assets, revenue streams – and digital assets – helps make our organization future-ready,” he said.
BancaStato connects with Zuger Kantonalbank and more than 25 other banks and financial institutions on the Sygnum B2B platform. Sygnum said its partner banks offer more than a third of the Swiss population access to digital assets.
Bitcoin in Swiss banks
The launch adds to the number of Swiss institutions bringing BTC to their customers. Zürcher Kantonalbank, the country’s largest bank, started bitcoin trading and storage; St. Gallen Kantonalbank opened to buy bitcoin and keep retail customers; and UBS tried bitcoin trading for selected wealthy customers. Sygnum itself has developed a bitcoin-linked loan, from a cooperation with Relai on loans backed by BTC to a $50 million bitcoin-backed syndicated loan to Ledn.
Sygnum has a Swiss banking license and, as of June 30, 2026, a Crypto-Asset Service Provider license under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, issued by Liechtenstein’s Financial Market Authority.
The license allows EU banks to use Sygnum’s infrastructure to set up digital services, an option that others offer such as Bitcoin Suisse will take over from the same authority.
