BancaStato, the bank of the canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland, has launched regulated cryptocurrency trading, a service that allows customers to buy, hold and sell bitcoin from the bank’s existing web and mobile applications, digital asset bank Sygnum said on Thursday.
The bank has connected the Sygnum API to Avaloq’s core banking system and digital channels, a setup that puts bitcoin trading within the same apps customers use for traditional accounts.
At launch, customers can trade Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies through market orders placed by quantity or value in USD.
Bitcoin is at the heart of the offer, a pattern across the wave of European banks adding cryptocurrency services. BancaStato Clients gain exposure to the asset through a regulated channel rather than an independent exchange, and their holdings remain in Sygnum’s custody rather than on the bank’s balance sheet.
Customer assets are held in a multi-layered, enterprise-level custody solution built on hardware and software controls, governance processes and independent third-party audits, Sygnum said. The company said all client assets are held off-balance sheet under regulatory and legal compliance, a structure intended to protect assets if the bank enters bankruptcy.
This point is important for holders of Bitcoin, since the assets they hold off-balance sheet remain separate from the claims of the failed enterprise’s creditors.
The integration runs on Sygnum’s B2B API without a separate order management system, an approach the companies said reduces cost and complexity. “BancaStato becoming the first bank in Avaloq’s SaaS environment to enable customers to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies via API with Sygnum directly from within its e-banking platforms represents an important step in the maturity and scalability of regulated digital asset infrastructure,” said Fritz Jost, Chief B2B Officer at Sygnum.
Founded in 1915, BancaStato runs its core banking and digital channels on the Avaloq platform in a software-as-a-service model. Curzio Di Gottardi, the bank’s head of products and services and executive vice chairman of the board, considered the launch an extension of the bank’s current lineup. “Our seamless integration between traditional assets and investment solutions – and now digital assets – strengthens our group’s future-ready offerings,” he said.
BancaStato joins Zuger Kantonalbank and more than 25 other banks and financial institutions on the Sygnum B2B platform. Sygnum said its partner banks are giving more than a third of the Swiss population a path to owning digital assets.
Bitcoin in Swiss banks
This launch adds to a series of Swiss institutions offering BTC to their clients. Zürcher Kantonalbank, the country’s fourth largest bank, Introduced Bitcoin trading and custody; St. Gallen Cantonalbank Open Bitcoin purchase and save for retail clients; And UBS has Bitcoin trading weight For selected Wealth clients. Sygnum itself has built a lending system tied to Bitcoin, from Partnership with Relay On BTC-backed loans to A $50M Bitcoin-Backed Syndicated Loan to Ledn.
Sygnum has held a Swiss banking licence, and a crypto-asset service provider license since 30 June 2026 under the EU Markets for Crypto-Assets Regulation, granted by the Financial Market Authority of Liechtenstein.
This license allows EU banks to leverage Sygnum’s infrastructure to launch digital asset services, a path like other providers Bitcoin Swiss taken From the same jurisdiction.
