People who search for “buy Ripple” almost always mean XRP. Ripple Labs is a private San Francisco company whose shares do not trade on any exchange. XRP is the token of the XRP Ledger, a blockchain that Ripple largely developed and from which it received most of the coins. The token is all you can buy – and in Switzerland several banks now sell it directly in Swiss francs.
This page covers which providers list XRP and what they charge, how to send XRP without losing it, the exchange-traded options and what the end of the US case against Ripple means for you.
XRP, Ripple and the XRP Ledger: who is who
The XRP Ledger went live in 2012, built by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz. All 100 billion XRP were created in one go at launch, and the founders gave 80 billion of them to Ripple. There is no mining and no ongoing issuance; Ripple periodically sells XRP from its holdings into the market.
Consensus also differs from Bitcoin or Ethereum. Independent validators agree on the new state of the ledger every three to five seconds. Which validators a server trusts is set by a list, the Unique Node List: the list of trusted validators an XRP Ledger server relies on. Critics see it as a point of centralisation., which critics consider too centralised. What matters for you: validators earn no rewards, and there is no staking on the XRP Ledger.
Ripple has also been buying companies, including one in Switzerland. In May 2023 it acquired the Swiss firm Metaco, which builds digital-asset custody technology for financial institutions, for USD 250 million; according to the trade publication The Big Whale, Metaco has its headquarters in Geneva. In 2025 Ripple added prime broker Hidden Road for USD 1.25 billion and treasury software provider GTreasury for around USD 1 billion. It also issues its own dollar A cryptocurrency pegged to an official currency such as the US dollar and meant to be backed by reserves., RLUSD.
The SEC case: what happened
For years a lawsuit by the US Securities and Exchange Commission hung over XRP. It is now closed.
- Dec 2020
The SEC sues Ripple and two executives over unregistered securities sales in XRP.
- July 2023
Judge Analisa Torres rules that anonymous sales on trading venues were not securities transactions, but sales to institutional investors were.
- Aug 2024
Final judgment with a penalty of USD 125,035,150 and an injunction.
- 2025
Ripple and the SEC ask to cut the penalty to USD 50 million; the court refuses.
- 7 Aug 2025
Both sides drop their appeals. The case is over; the penalty and injunction stand.
- 13 Nov 2025
The Canary XRP ETF (XRPC) opens on Nasdaq as the first US spot XRP ETF.
For buyers in Switzerland the case never had direct legal consequences. Zug Cantonal Bank already sold XRP in 2023, and the Federal Tax Administration publishes a tax value every year. The indirect effect was large: the end of the case cleared the way for US ETFs and removed one of the biggest uncertainties hanging over the price.
Where to buy XRP in Switzerland
| Trading fee | Withdraw to own wallet | Worth knowing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CEX.IO | 0.15% / 0.25% | Contract with a Nevis company, no CHF | |
| Swissquote | from 1.00% | Swiss bank, CHF account | |
| PostFinance | 0.95% | not confirmed | Buy in e-finance from USD 50 |
| LUKB | 1.80% up to CHF 10,000 | Bank holds the coins itself; no US persons | |
| Kraken | 0.40% / 0.80% | Free CHF deposits via SIC |
CEX.IO has operated since 2013, and group entities are registered in the US (FinCEN) and the UK (FCA). Swiss residents, however, contract with CEX OVRS LLC in Nevis, which names no regulator. CEX.IO holds no FINMA licence and no Swiss self-regulatory membership, and it does not offer Swiss francs. XRP trades against US dollars from 0.15% (maker) and 0.25% (taker). A practical plus: CEX.IO assigns a destination tag to every incoming XRP deposit and checks it on every withdrawal. More in our CEX.IO review.
Swissquote, based in Gland, lists XRP among about 55 cryptocurrencies. Fees start at 1.00% and fall with volume; withdrawing to an external wallet costs USD 10 or 15 depending on the coin, and custody costs CHF 20–50 a quarter for the whole account (Swissquote review).
PostFinance includes XRP among its 22 coins, from USD 50 in e-finance and as a savings plan, with a 0.15% annual portfolio fee. You need Swiss tax residence and a Swiss ID, a passport or a B, C or C1 permit. Transfers to your own wallet are not officially documented (PostFinance crypto).
Lucerne Cantonal Bank: XRP is one of nine coins. The bank holds them itself; withdrawals are possible from CHF 1,000 and cost CHF 80. The fee falls from 1.80% to 1.00% from CHF 100,000, and custody costs 0.60% a year. US persons cannot use the service.
Then there is Kraken, with free franc deposits by SIC via Bank Frick (Kraken review), and SwissBorg, with a 0.99% exchange fee, where francs can only be sent by SWIFT to its French entity BlockNodes SAS (SwissBorg review). Zug Cantonal Bank offered XRP from the launch of its crypto service in October 2023, and for professional clients AMINA Bank offers over-the-counter options on XRP. Mt Pelerin, Relai and Ticino’s BancaStato do not offer XRP; we could not check Yuh’s list.
Swiss providers must verify your identity once you reach CHF 1,000 within 30 days. For the cheapest way to fund your account in francs, see buying crypto by bank transfer.
Buying XRP in five steps
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Pick a provider
A bank to hold XRP in your usual securities account, an exchange for lower fees and free withdrawals to your own wallet.
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Open your account
Identity check with ID and selfie; have your residence permit ready.
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Send francs
By bank transfer; cards usually cost several per cent extra.
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Buy XRP
Use a limit order rather than a market order to avoid price spikes and a wide spread.
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Send it safely
Copy the address and, if required, the destination tag; send a test amount first. Budget at least 1 XRP as reserve for a new address of your own.
Want to buy XRP and decide for yourself where it is held? An exchange account with withdrawals to your own wallet is the most direct route.
Operating since 2013Group registered with FinCEN (US) and the FCA (UK)
Destination tags and reserves: the two XRP traps
Two quirks of XRP that bitcoin and ether users never meet regularly cost people money.
The A number added to the address in an XRP payment that tells the recipient which customer account to credit.: many exchanges use a single XRP address for all customers and tell deposits apart by a number you add to the address. According to the XRP Ledger documentation, the tag has no function on the ledger itself; it only serves the recipient’s bookkeeping. If the exchange has switched on the “RequireDest” setting, the ledger automatically rejects a payment without a tag, and you simply send it again. Without that safeguard, your coins land in the pooled address and you have to claim them back through customer support. In the other direction – from the exchange to your own wallet – you usually do not need a tag.
The reserve: every XRP Ledger address must keep a minimum balance, currently a 1 XRP base reserve plus 0.2 XRP for each additional object, such as a trust line for a token. A new wallet only activates once it receives at least 1 XRP, and that amount stays locked. Sending 0.8 XRP to a brand-new address fails.
XRP wallets
For self-custody you need a wallet that supports the XRP Ledger. The Xaman app (formerly Xumm), built specifically for the ledger, is widely used. Ledger devices support XRP, and Trezor does on some of its models according to its own coin list. Whatever you choose, keep the A list of 12 or 24 words that restores a wallet. Anyone who knows it controls the coins. offline – never in a photo or the cloud. Our crypto wallet guide compares the devices.
XRP attracts more than its share of scams: fake giveaways in the name of Ripple executives, bogus airdrops and supposed pre-IPO Ripple shares. The rule of thumb: nobody doubles your XRP, and Ripple does not sell shares to retail investors. See crypto scams in Switzerland.
XRP on SIX: AXRP and the US ETFs
To hold XRP in an ordinary securities account, you buy an Exchange-traded product: a listed security that tracks the price of a cryptocurrency and is usually backed by actual coins.. Searches for “XRP ETF Switzerland” lead to exactly these products.
The 21Shares XRP ETP (ticker AXRP, ISIN CH0454664043) has been listed since 1 April 2019 and, according to the issuer, is fully backed by XRP held in cold storage at BitGo Europe. Other issuers, such as Bank Vontobel, also list open-ended XRP products on SIX. The 2.50% annual fee is steep, though: on CHF 5,000 it comes to CHF 125 a year, against CHF 7.50 in portfolio fees at PostFinance for the same amount held directly.
In the US, the Canary XRP ETF (XRPC) has traded on Nasdaq since 13 November 2025; press reports put first-day volume at around USD 58 million. Whether your Swiss broker gives private clients access varies. More in our guide to crypto ETPs in Switzerland.
XRP and Swiss tax
XRP goes in your securities list and is subject to cantonal Annual cantonal tax on your net assets on 31 December – cryptocurrencies count.. The Federal Tax Administration’s price list gives CHF 1.47 per XRP on 31 December 2025, so 2,000 XRP means declaring about CHF 2,936. Capital gains on private assets are tax-free. With no staking there is no staking income, but interest from lending products is income. Details in our guides to crypto tax in Switzerland and declaring crypto on your tax return.
Risks at a glance
- Supply overhang: Ripple holds a large share of all XRP and sells periodically.
- Centralisation: the network relies on a list of selected validators, which critics question.
- Legal: the SEC case is over, but the penalty and injunction remain.
- User errors: a missing destination tag or too little reserve on a new address.
- Bank custody: PostFinance does not document transfers to your own wallet.
- Scams: fake giveaways and supposed Ripple shares.
This page is not investment advice; XRP can swing sharply and you could lose everything you invest. To compare, see our pages on Solana and the top cryptocurrencies in Switzerland.
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Avoiding scams
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