Apart from buying inside your own bank's e-banking, a card is the route with the shortest wait: enter the card, approve the payment in your banking app, and the coins are in your account. No payment slip, no waiting for the next banking day. For a first purchase of a few hundred francs that is tempting, and most crypto apps put the card option front and centre.
It is not cheap. Providers add between 2.5% and 4.5% for card, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and your card issuer may charge extra fees that no crypto app will show you. This page lists the verified rates for people living in Switzerland, works through an example with CHF 500 and explains what to check on your own card – especially if it was issued in another country. Crypto cards for spending bitcoin in shops are a different subject, covered in crypto cards in Switzerland.
Who accepts cards and what they charge
| Provider | Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay | On CHF 500 | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| CEX.IO | 2.99%, or 0.49–4.99% plus a service charge | shown only at checkout | no CHF; charged in USD, EUR or GBP |
| Mt Pelerin | 2.5% up to CHF 500 annual volume, then 3.8% | CHF 12.50 | always with KYC, max CHF 5,000 per purchase |
| Relai | 1% service plus 3% card | CHF 20 | bitcoin only, from CHF 50 |
| SwissBorg | 4.5% top-up, then 0.99% exchange fee | about CHF 27 | minimum fee EUR 5 |
| Kraken | 3.75% plus EUR 0.25 | not for CHF | cards only for EUR accounts in the EEA |
CEX.IO has operated since 2013 and accepts Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Its own pages contradict each other, though: product pages quote 2.99% for Visa and Mastercard, while the fee table on the homepage says "0.49%–4.99% + service charge". What counts is the amount shown before you confirm. Francs are not offered, so your card is charged in dollars, euros or pounds. Swiss residents contract with CEX OVRS LLC in Nevis; group entities are registered in the US (FinCEN) and the UK (FCA), but there is no Swiss authorisation or SRO membership. For the first three months after verification, limits are USD 1,000 a day and USD 3,000 a month. More in our CEX.IO review.
Mt Pelerin in Geneva has a quirk: its card fee rises with annual volume instead of falling. The first CHF 500 each year cost 2.5%, CHF 501 to 5,000 cost 3.8%, and the rate then eases to 3.6% and 3.4%. The minimum fee is CHF 1.20, a single card purchase is capped at CHF 5,000 and, unlike bank transfers, card purchases always require identity verification. Coins go straight into your own Bridge Wallet – see our Mt Pelerin review.
Relai in Zurich sells bitcoin only. On top of its 1% service fee it adds 3% for card, Apple Pay and Google Pay, with a CHF 50 minimum. Here too the bitcoin goes to a wallet whose keys only you hold (Relai review).
SwissBorg, the Lausanne-based app, charges Swiss residents 4.5% for a card top-up at the Standard rank, at least EUR 5; higher ranks bring it down to 3.75%. The exchange itself then costs a flat 0.99%. Because franc bank deposits only arrive via SWIFT to a French entity, many users reach for the card – which is still the pricier route (SwissBorg review).
Kraken lists debit-card deposits only for euros in the EEA, at 3.75% plus EUR 0.25. There is no card option for francs; instead Kraken credits SIC transfers from CHF 1 free of charge on the same day (Kraken review).
Two other names come up often. Crypto.com has offered card, Apple Pay and Google Pay to customers in Switzerland since June 2026, without stating a fee, and the account runs in euros. YouHodler, also based in Lausanne, quotes 0.5% for cards and Apple Pay on its payments page, while a help article mentions 4.5% for card deposits via a third-party provider. Its core business is leveraged products and crypto-backed loans (YouHodler review).
Worked example: CHF 500 by card or bank transfer
Take a first purchase of CHF 500 of bitcoin. By card it costs CHF 12.50 at Mt Pelerin, CHF 20 at Relai and about CHF 27 at SwissBorg – CHF 22.50 for the top-up and just under CHF 5 for the exchange. Everywhere there is also a The gap between the price you buy at and the market price. It is a hidden cost, even if nobody calls it a fee. that is not shown separately.
The same purchase by bank transfer: Mt Pelerin charges no commission on the first CHF 500 per year paid by bank transfer, Relai charges 1%, or CHF 5. At Kraken the SIC deposit is free and a trade on Kraken Pro costs 0.40–0.80%, so CHF 2 to 4.
On a single purchase the difference is ten or twenty francs. A savings plan is another matter: buying CHF 200 of bitcoin by card at Relai every month costs about CHF 96 a year in fees; by bank transfer it is at most CHF 24, and less still with the plan's fee-free CHF 100 purchase each month. The bank-transfer route is explained in buying crypto by bank transfer.
What your credit card may charge on top
The crypto provider's fee is only half the bill. The other half sits in your card's terms, which many people only read when the monthly statement arrives.
Cash advance instead of a purchase. Card networks usually file crypto purchases under a merchant category for cash-like transactions, known as A cash-like transaction: paying for something that works like money, such as foreign currency, traveller's cheques or cryptocurrencies.. Some issuers therefore treat them as a cash withdrawal: you pay the card's cash-advance fee and, depending on the terms, interest from the posting date instead of after the interest-free period. Reward points are often excluded too. We found no uniform practice among Swiss issuers, so we deliberately quote no figures. If your card was issued abroad, your home bank's rules apply, so check those terms as well.
Foreign currency. If the provider charges your card in euros or dollars – CEX.IO does not offer francs at all, and Crypto.com accounts run in euros – your issuer converts at its own rate and usually adds a foreign-currency processing fee. Both come on top of the provider's fee.
Revolving credit. If you do not pay off the card bill in full, you are financing your bitcoin at the card's interest rate. Buying crypto on credit is a risk we do not recommend.
Debit cards: Debit Mastercard, Visa Debit, PostFinance Card
The old Maestro card did not work for online purchases. Since 2020 most Swiss banks have replaced it with a Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit – according to Moneyland, UBS offers both, ZKB has used Visa Debit since June 2022, and PostFinance Cards issued since April 2022 are also Debit Mastercards. These cards work online like a credit card, including approval in the app.
For buying crypto a debit card has two advantages: the amount comes straight out of your account, with no bill and no interest, and the cash-advance risk of a credit card largely disappears. On the other hand, banks often set lower online or daily limits, which you can usually adjust in e-banking. You still pay the crypto provider's surcharge in full: Mt Pelerin, Relai and SwissBorg make no distinction between credit and debit cards in their rates.
Apple Pay and Google Pay
Apple Pay and Google Pay are not separate payment rails but a wrapper around your card. Mt Pelerin, Relai and SwissBorg charge the same rate as for a card payment, and your issuer's rules still apply. The route is still convenient: the provider receives a stand-in token rather than your real card number, and you approve with Face ID or a fingerprint. Your bank does need to have enabled the card for Apple Pay or Google Pay.
A card purchase, step by step
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Verify your account
Photograph your ID, take a selfie and enter your Swiss address. No provider accepts a card without this check (KYC).
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Add your card
Enter the card number or choose Apple Pay or Google Pay. The card generally has to be in your own name – the same as the account.
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Check the amount
Before confirming, compare the total, the fee and the rate. If the amount is shown in euros or dollars, foreign-currency charges will follow.
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Approve in the app
Confirm the 3-D Secure request in your bank's or card issuer's app. The coins then usually arrive within minutes.
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Secure your coins
Keep the receipt and move larger amounts to a wallet of your own, unless the provider already sends them there.
The Know Your Customer: the provider checks your identity, usually with an ID document and a selfie, before you can buy. check is the real bottleneck – the card payment itself takes seconds. If you are in a hurry, get verified before you want to buy. More in the fastest way to buy crypto.
Don't want to pay a 3–4% card surcharge? A franc bank transfer buys the same coins for less.
Operating since 2013Group registered with FinCEN (US) and the FCA (UK)
3-D Secure, limits and declined payments
For online payments, Swiss card issuers require approval through A Visa and Mastercard security step: online payments are additionally confirmed in your bank's app or with a code., usually via a push notification in their app. If the request never arrives or times out, the payment fails. Make sure the app is up to date and notifications are allowed.
If your card is still declined, one of four reasons is almost always behind it: the monthly or online limit has been reached; the card is in a different name from the crypto account; the issuer blocks payments to crypto merchants as a precaution; or the provider imposes its own cap. At Mt Pelerin that is CHF 5,000 per card purchase, at CEX.IO USD 1,000 a day during the first three months. A call to the card hotline tells you whether the bank stopped the payment, and the block can often be lifted for a specific transaction.
A word on fraud: no bank adviser or authority will ever ask you to buy crypto with your card and send it to an address they give you. Coins once sent cannot be recovered, not even through a card chargeback. The most common scams are described in crypto scams in Switzerland.
When a card makes sense – and when it doesn't
A card is worth it when speed and small amounts matter: a first CHF 100 purchase to try out an app, or a weekend purchase when bank transfers are paused. At Mt Pelerin the first CHF 500 each year stay reasonable at 2.5%. And if you have only just arrived and your Swiss bank account is not open yet, a card from home gets you started – as long as you have checked its foreign-currency and cash-advance rules.
For anything regular, a franc bank transfer is the better route. In a monthly savings plan, a 3–4% surcharge soon outweighs the fee difference between any two providers. If you already bank with PostFinance, Yuh or ZKB, you can buy directly from your account balance, no card required. TWINT, by contrast, is not accepted by any of the providers we checked – see buying crypto with TWINT.
For tax purposes, the payment method changes nothing: you declare coins held on 31 December in your securities list, and capital gains stay tax-free for private investors. Details are in crypto tax in Switzerland. And if your coins are still sitting on a platform, crypto wallets in Switzerland explains how to hold them yourself.
