Bitcoin and crypto in Bern

Few cities shape Swiss crypto as much as Bern does – and few show so little of it in daily life. In the federal city, FINMA licenses banks and financial institutions, the Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) sets the official tax prices for bitcoin, and the Swiss National Bank has one of its two head offices. Yet if you look for a bitcoin ATM between the Zytglogge and the Bundesplatz, you will probably come away empty-handed. This page separates the two worlds: what the authorities in Bern mean for you, where you can actually buy and spend bitcoin in the city and canton, and where the community meets.

Federal Bern: who decides what

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA has its head office at Laupenstrasse 27. It licenses banks, securities firms and fintech institutions, oversees the SROsSelf-regulatory organisation: a FINMA-recognised body that checks smaller financial intermediaries, such as crypto brokers, for compliance with anti-money-laundering rules. that many crypto brokers belong to, and publishes a warning list of unauthorised providers. For private investors this list is the most useful tool to come out of Bern: a quick look will not replace proper checks, but it does prevent plenty of mistakes. More in FINMA and crypto regulation and spotting crypto scams.

Every year the ESTV publishes official year-end prices for the main cryptocurrencies, plus a working paper on how they are taxed, the current version dated 14 December 2021. All cantons use these values for wealth taxA cantonal tax on your net assets at 31 December. Crypto counts, just like shares or bank balances.. The basics are summarised in crypto tax in Switzerland.

Buying bitcoin in Bern: what really exists

ATMs: the numbers don’t match

Bern was early: back in September 2015, Bitcoin Suisse installed a bitcoin ATM in the federal city. How many there are today is hard to say. An undated Coin ATM Radar figure quoted by HelloSafe put the city at around 13 machines and the canton at 17. BTC Map, the volunteer-run map, shows none at all within four and a half kilometres of the Old Town – the map is simply incomplete here. What it does list is three Värdex ATMs in Biel (see below) and one machine without a named operator in central Thun.

Our advice: check the location in the operator’s locator, take only as much cash as you actually want to exchange and compare the on-screen rate with the market price. Costs and limits are covered in bitcoin ATMs in Switzerland.

SBB, Swiss Post and the banks

Every SBB ticket machine – including those at Bern station – sells bitcoin and ether as paper wallets for CHF 20 to 500, paid by PostFinance Card, Maestro or cash. You need a Swiss mobile number, which rules out a foreign SIM if you have only just arrived. The seller is SweePay AG of Zug, which does not publish its exchange fee (how it works). At a post office counter you pay a QR slip generated by Mt Pelerin’s Bridge Wallet in cash, without ID up to CHF 999 per 30 days.

We found no bitcoin trading offer at Berner Kantonalbank (BEKB). For many people in Bern the obvious choice is PostFinance, which is itself headquartered in the city: since February 2024 it has offered crypto trading through Sygnum, now 22 coins, with a 0.95% trading fee and savings plans from USD 50. Other banks are compared in crypto banks in Switzerland.

Online: four routes compared

If you buy regularly or in larger amounts, you will usually end up with an app or exchange. The biggest difference is how you get Swiss francs in:

Details in our reviews of CEX.IO and Relai.

Paying with bitcoin: Rathausgasse and Thun

BTC Map counts twelve entries in Bern, most of them verified by volunteers. Two sit almost next door to each other in the lower Old Town: Capitol Restaurant & Bar at Rathausgasse 61 and the bar Department 66 at Rathausgasse 66. Add HurryCurry at Monbijoustrasse 67, the Spar at Könizstrasse 155 in Liebefeld, the sound studio ttmc at Ziegelackerstrasse 10 and a hypnosis and coaching practice at Chutzenstrasse 57. Student housing provider Stuwo is listed with several houses. Nearly all of them take LightningA payment network built on top of bitcoin. Payments settle in seconds and usually cost a fraction of a cent..

Thun is surprisingly lively: eleven entries within three and a half kilometres, nearly all of them verified, including chops. sushi & more at Burgstrasse 20, the Spar at Aarestrasse 30a and a service provider for secure bitcoin storage at Allmendingen-Allee 9. Still, ask before you order: volunteers maintain the listings.

As far as we could find, no public body in Bern accepts taxes or fees in bitcoin. That is possible in the canton of Zug and in Lugano: paying taxes in bitcoin.

Biel/Bienne and the Seeland: an ATM cluster

The bilingual watchmaking town has a striking number of ATMs for its size. BTC Map lists three Värdex machines within 500 metres of the centre, and in 2024 Cointelegraph named Biel/Bienne and neighbouring Ipsach among Switzerland’s main ATM locations. We could not verify that all three work: not all of the map entries are up to date, and addresses are missing. Värdex, an active operator affiliated with the VQF, says on its website that it runs more than 80 ATMs in Switzerland, sells from CHF 50 and needs no registration for cash purchases under CHF 1,000, but it publishes no list we could cross-check. Its online locator is the most reliable test.

In Ipsach, Bitcoin-Schweiz.ch offers bitcoin education at Keltenstrasse 5; in Biel, the P15 coworking space at Johann-Aberli-Strasse 15 is listed. The community meets at Einundzwanzig Biel/Bienne and at 32-Einezwänzg Seeland in Lyss, in German and French alike.

Meetups across the canton

For a region without big crypto companies, the grassroots scene is remarkably active. In the city, Bitcoin Bern organises meetups via Meetup.com, which also hosts events from Bitcoin Burgdorf. In the Bernese Oberland, Bitcoin-Alps meets (bitcoin-alps.ch, Telegram), in the Seeland 32-Einezwänzg, and close by Einezwänzg Solothurn. Bitcoin Association Switzerland chose Bern as the first stop of its 2025 roadshow. Most evenings run in German or Swiss German, but newcomers will learn more about self-custodyHolding your coins in a wallet whose private key only you know, with no exchange or bank in between. there than from any brochure.

1. Sept 2015

   Bitcoin Suisse installs a bitcoin ATM in the federal city.

2. Dec 2021

   The ESTV in Bern publishes the current version of its working paper on taxing cryptocurrencies.

3. Jan 2025

   Bitcoin Association Switzerland makes Bern the first stop of its 2025 roadshow.

4. Dec 2025

   The canton of Bern joins the Swiss Blockchain Federation at the initiative of its tax administration.

5. Jan 2026

   The tax administration reminds taxpayers, in its notes on the 2025 return, that crypto must be declared.

Tax in the canton of Bern

We found no dedicated crypto information sheet for Bern of the kind Basel-Stadt or Zug publish. The tax administration covers the topic in its online Taxinfo database and gives clear pointers in its annual information on the tax return. Cryptocurrencies are subject to wealth tax and belong on the securities list, valued at 31 December. Income, for example from stakingLocking up coins for a period to help secure a network and receiving new coins as a reward., counts as investment income. Gains from selling private assets are tax-free “in most cases”; the exception is professional trading, assessed under ESTV Circular No. 36.

1. 1

   Record your holdings at 31 December

   Save the exchange or bank statement; for your own wallet, make a dated printout or screenshot.

2. 2

   Look up the tax value

   For common coins, use the ESTV year-end price list; if a coin is missing, use the price on the platform you used.

3. 3

   Enter it on the securities list

   In BE-Login, add one line per cryptocurrency. Electronic tax statements from banks can be imported; wallet balances are entered by hand.

4. 4

   Declare income separately

   Staking rewards, airdrops or lending interest count as investment income at their value when received.

To log in to BE-Login the canton now uses only AGOV, the Swiss authorities’ login. If you are taxed at source as a foreign employee, ask the tax office whether you need to file an ordinary return in which your crypto has to appear. The full walkthrough: declaring crypto on your tax return.

Nearby and alternatives

If you want more places to pay with bitcoin, Basel and Lucerne are not much better; the nearest really dense bitcoin scene is in Zurich. In Fribourg, Bern’s bilingual neighbour, BTC Map shows no entries at all within three and a half kilometres. Every region at a glance: crypto across Swiss regions.