Bitpanda in Switzerland: what you actually get

The verdict up front

Bitpanda is one of the few large European crypto brokers that take Swiss francs directly. You transfer from CHF 10, buy from CHF 1.50 and choose from more than 650 cryptocurrencies – over ten times the 55 on offer at the Swiss bank Swissquote. On bitcoin, Bitpanda charges a fixed premium of 0.99% when you buy and again when you sell. It suits you if you want smaller altcoins alongside bitcoin, plan to invest modest monthly amounts and are comfortable with Austrian rather than Swiss supervision. If your salary lands at PostFinance, you can also fund via PostFinance Pay.

It is a weaker fit if you want your crypto held by a FINMA-supervised institution, expect a ready-made Swiss tax statement or want to spend crypto day to day: the Bitpanda Card requires residence in the euro area. Active altcoin traders should look closely too. Fees there range from 0% to 2.49% depending on the coin, and you only see the figure in the summary before you buy.

Regulation: Vienna, not Bern

Bitpanda was founded in Vienna in 2014. Since April 2025, Bitpanda GmbH has been authorised as a crypto-asset service provider under the EU's MiCAMarkets in Crypto-Assets Regulation: the EU rulebook for crypto providers, covering capital, custody and disclosure. It does not apply in Switzerland. regulation, supervised by Austria's Financial Market Authority (FMA). The entry appears in the interim register kept by ESMA, the EU securities regulator. Another group company, Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH, holds a licence from Germany's BaFin, and the homepage highlights both the FMA and BaFin licences.

Two points matter if you live in Switzerland. First, Bitpanda has no FINMA licence, and we found no membership of a Swiss self-regulatory organisation. MiCA authorisation applies in the European Economic Area, not in Switzerland – although it does oblige Bitpanda to meet Austrian requirements on capital, anti-money-laundering checks and the segregation of client assets. Second, Bitpanda does not publicly state which company Swiss customers contract with. Bitpanda GmbH in Vienna is the obvious candidate, but that is not confirmed. The applicable terms appear when you register, so read the clause naming the contracting party.

Bitpanda holds your coins itself, so you have no access to the private keys while they sit in the account. A CHF balance at Bitpanda is not a bank deposit, and the Swiss deposit protection scheme esisuisse does not apply. Under MiCA a custodian must keep client crypto separate from its own assets, which helps in an insolvency but is no substitute for a wallet of your own. Our guide to FINMA crypto regulation explains how the Swiss rules compare.

Getting francs in and out

Bitpanda treats the Swiss franc as a fiat currency in its own right, alongside the euro, dollar and pound. According to its help centre, the minimum deposit and withdrawal is CHF 10, and the smallest buy, sell or swap is CHF 1.50.

These are your options:

• Bank transfer in CHF: the app shows the bank details when you deposit. We could not confirm whether the payment is processed as a domestic or an international transfer. If it is international, your own bank may charge for it. The help articles we read do not mention a Bitpanda fee for bank transfers.
• PostFinance Pay: according to the payment provider wallee, which built the integration, Swiss customers have been able to deposit francs via PostFinance Pay since February 2025. We found no official fee figure for it.
• PayPal: the help centre says instant deposits work from Swiss and EEA PayPal accounts, in EUR and CHF.
• Debit and credit cards: accepted, but the fee for Swiss customers is not published. Reviews quote 1.5% to 1.99%; we could not confirm that.

TWINT is not on the list. No major exchange or broker accepts TWINT directly for crypto purchases, as our guide to buying crypto with TWINT explains. If you bank with PostFinance anyway, you can also buy crypto there directly.

Withdrawals work in reverse: sell coins for francs and have the balance, from CHF 10, paid out to a bank account in your name. You can also send crypto to your own wallet. Because Bitpanda operates under EU law, it may ask for proof that the address belongs to you when you transfer to a self-hosted wallet.

Worked example: CHF 1,000 into bitcoin

We use the published rates and assume the price does not move.

By bank transfer or PostFinance Pay: the 0.99% premium on CHF 1,000 is CHF 9.90. You receive bitcoin worth about CHF 990.10 at the market price, plus or minus any charges from your own bank.

By card: the same CHF 9.90 premium, plus a card fee that Bitpanda does not publish for Switzerland. At the 1.5% to 1.99% quoted in reviews, that would add CHF 15.00 to CHF 19.90, for a total of CHF 24.90 to CHF 29.80. This figure is not confirmed; the app shows the exact amount before you confirm.

When you sell later, the 0.99% premium applies again. A round trip in bitcoin therefore costs roughly 2% before the price has moved at all.

Fees: a premium rather than a commission

Bitpanda works as a broker. You do not buy from other customers through an order book but directly from Bitpanda, at a price Bitpanda sets. The cost is therefore built into the price as a premiumA mark-up on the market price that the broker adds when you buy and deducts when you sell. It is already included in the quoted price.. For bitcoin, Bitpanda puts it at 0.99% on both buys and sells. For other assets, Bitpanda gives a range of 0.00% to 2.49%, shown in the order summary before you trade.

On the plus side, you do not need to understand maker and takerA maker places an order in the order book, a taker accepts an existing one. Exchanges usually charge takers more. fees, and the cost of each purchase is visible before you confirm. On the minus side, you pay the premium on every buy and every sell. Compare the final amount with the market price, not just the percentage – it includes the spreadThe gap between the buying and the selling price. If you sell straight away, you lose at least this gap. as well as the premium. Exchanges with an order book charge less: CEX.IO's fee schedule starts at 0.15% maker and 0.25% taker, Kraken Pro at 0.40% and 0.80%. The trade-off is that you need to handle order types yourself.

For context: CEX.IO has operated since 2013 and offers purchases by card, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Swiss customers, however, contract with CEX OVRS LLC in Nevis, which names no regulator; there is no CHF, so you fund in euros by SEPA or by card (CEX.IO review). Swissquote is a Swiss bank with a CHF account but charges a custody fee (Swissquote review). SwissBorg accepts francs by SWIFT only and charges 4.5% on card deposits (SwissBorg review).

What Swiss residents get – and what they don't

Coins: Bitpanda lists more than 650 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether, XRP and dogecoin. We could not confirm whether Tether (USDT) is tradable for Swiss residents, nor Pi.

Staking: Bitpanda offers stakingLocking coins to help run a blockchain in return for rewards in the same currency. The provider often keeps a share.. We could not verify whether the feature is open to Swiss residents. If it is, rewards count as taxable income in Switzerland – see our guide to crypto staking in Switzerland.

Tax: Bitpanda supplies the data, not the return

For private investors in Switzerland, capital gains on crypto are tax-free and losses are not deductible. Your holdings on 31 December, however, are subject to wealth tax and belong in the securities schedule of your tax return. The Federal Tax Administration publishes tax values for the main coins in its official price list. Staking rewards are taxed as income at their CHF value on the day you receive them.

As far as we could find, Bitpanda does not issue a Swiss tax statement of the kind banks provide. You therefore need two things yourself: the number of each coin at year-end and, if you staked, a dated list of rewards. Both come from the transaction history in your account. Save it every year – in a tax review, proof is what counts. Our guide to declaring crypto on your tax return shows where the figures go, and crypto tax in Switzerland covers the principles, which matter whether you have just moved to Zurich or have lived in Geneva for years.

Strengths and weaknesses

Opening an account step by step

Registration is fully online. Allow some time for identity checks: until they are done, you generally cannot deposit or buy.

1. 1

   Sign up

   Download the app or register on bitpanda.com, confirm your email and select Switzerland as your country of residence. The terms shown tell you which Bitpanda company you are contracting with.

2. 2

   Verify your identity

   Have your passport or ID card ready. Verification runs in the app with photos of the document and a selfie. Foreign nationals living in Switzerland use their passport.

3. 3

   Confirm address and source of funds

   Bitpanda asks for your address, occupation and where your money comes from. Proof of address, such as a recent bill, and for larger amounts a salary certificate or bank statement may be requested.

4. 4

   Deposit francs

   At least CHF 10 by bank transfer, PostFinance Pay, PayPal or card. A transfer from an account in your own name keeps extra costs lowest.

5. 5

   Check your first purchase

   Pick a coin, enter the amount and check the premium and fee in the summary. Only then confirm.

KYCKnow Your Customer: the identity check regulated providers must carry out by law, for example with an ID document and a selfie. is mandatory at every regulated provider. Swiss providers must identify you at the latest once your crypto purchases reach CHF 1,000 within 30 days; Bitpanda, as an EU provider, applies EU anti-money-laundering rules and checks your identity when you open the account.

Alternatives to Bitpanda

If Austrian supervision is not enough for you, Swissquote is the obvious choice: a Swiss bank with a CHF account, 55 cryptocurrencies and fees from 1%. Its smartphone sibling, Yuh, lets you buy from CHF 10 at 1% per trade, with custody at Swissquote. For a broad coin range and a crypto card in francs, look at SwissBorg. For larger amounts with an order book and free CHF deposits via SIC, Kraken fits.

If you only want to stack bitcoin, a Swiss app such as Relai, which buys straight into your own wallet, will serve you better. Our comparison of crypto apps in Switzerland gives the full picture.