The short verdict
Relai is a good fit if you buy bitcoin regularly and want to hold it yourself, without dealing with order books and exchange withdrawals. The Zurich app sends every purchase straight to a wallet whose keys only you hold. The 1% fee is transparent, and if you set up a monthly CHF 100 savings plan, you pay no service fee on it at all, just the spread. If you put aside a fixed amount from your salary account each month, it is one of the cheapest options in Switzerland.
Relai is not for you if you want ether, Solana or other coins: it only does bitcoin. Purchases under CHF 50, paying by TWINT or moving more than CHF 100,000 a year also hit limits. And if being responsible for your own recovery phrase worries you, a bank such as PostFinance or Swissquote is the better fit – see our guide to buying bitcoin in Switzerland.
How Relai works
Relai is not an account where your bitcoin sits; it is a wallet app with a built-in buy function. When you set it up, it creates a A list of 12 or 24 words from which all of a wallet’s keys can be restored. Anyone who knows it can spend the bitcoin. of 12 words, which according to Relai restores your wallet at any time on any device. Relai itself says it never holds your bitcoin, so this is You hold your coins and their private keys yourself. No provider can freeze them – but nobody can rescue them for you either..
The process is simple: you enter a purchase in the app, transfer the amount with the reference shown, and Relai sends the bitcoin to your wallet address. Selling works the other way round: you send bitcoin from the app to Relai and receive francs in your bank account. Relai pays the network fee on purchases; on sales you pay it, and the app shows the amount before you confirm.
The flip side of self-custody: lose your phone and your recovery phrase, and nobody can help you. Write the twelve words down offline, keep them somewhere safe and never type them into a website – that is exactly what scammers are after, as our guide to crypto scams in Switzerland shows. For larger sums it is worth moving to a hardware wallet such as the BitBox, developed in Adliswil near Zurich.
Regulation: an SRO, not a bank
If you live in Switzerland, your counterparty is Relai AG on Hardturmstrasse in Zurich. It says it is a member of the VQF, a FINMA-recognised Self-regulatory organisation: an association recognised by FINMA that checks its members comply with Swiss anti-money-laundering law.. That means Relai is under anti-money-laundering supervision, but it is not a bank and has no FINMA licence. We could not check the membership in the register ourselves, but FINMA’s SRO member search is open to anyone. What the different licences mean is explained in our guide to FINMA and crypto regulation.
Since October 2025, EU customers have been served by Relai EU SASU in Paris, which holds a MiCA authorisation from the French AMF, also listed in ESMA’s register. Nothing changes for Swiss customers: they stay with Relai AG. There is no deposit protection – but it matters less than at an exchange, because your bitcoin is not held by Relai. Only francs in transit are exposed.
Since the end of October 2024, every user has had to verify their identity. The old option of buying small amounts without ID is history. Swiss anti-money-laundering rules require identification from CHF 1,000 within 30 days; Relai now checks everyone, whatever the amount.
What a purchase really costs
Relai's Swiss price list sets a service fee of 1.0% per buy or sell, or 0.9% for users with an invite code. On top comes a small The gap between the buy and sell price. It is built into the price you see and not shown separately., “in line with industry practice”, which Relai does not quantify. Paying by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay costs an extra 3%. The minimum per buy or sell is CHF 50.
Worked example: CHF 1,000 of bitcoin
By bank transfer, the service fee is CHF 10, or CHF 9 with an invite code. Relai pays the network fee, leaving the unquantified spread. You receive bitcoin worth just under CHF 990.
By card, 3% is added: CHF 10 service fee plus a CHF 30 card surcharge makes CHF 40, or 4%, plus the spread. According to the price list, a card quote is binding for ten seconds, after which a new one appears.
The savings plan is cheaper: in each calendar month, one savings-plan purchase of up to CHF 100 is exempt from the service fee. Saving CHF 100 a month, you invest CHF 1,200 a year without paying any service fee, only the spread. At Pocket that would be 1.5%, or CHF 18 a year; at DFX’s standard rate, CHF 17.88.
| Relai | DFX | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Base and SRO | Zurich, VQF | Lupfig AG, VQF | Zug, VQF |
| Coins | bitcoin only | bitcoin only | 80+ |
| Buy fee | 1.0% plus spread | 1.5% at Kraken price | 1.49% (standard) |
| Minimum | CHF 50 | none | varies by blockchain |
| Card, Apple Pay | +3% | ||
| ID check | required for everyone | video call for larger deposits | from CHF 1,000 |
Pocket, based in Lupfig in canton Aargau, charges 1.5% with no minimum fee, executes at the Kraken price without an extra spread and has no minimum amount; it only takes bank transfers and standing orders, and can pay out over Lightning. Details are in our Pocket review. DFX in Zug advertises fees “from 1%”; its terms list 1.49% to buy and 1.99% to sell for private customers paying by bank, with more than 80 coins on offer. Of the three, only Relai accepts cards – at a cost of 3%.
Want to try an alternative with card purchases and more coins than just bitcoin?
Operating since 2013Group registered with FinCEN (US) and the FCA (UK)
Limits, savings plan and Relai Private
For Swiss accounts, Relai's help centre sets a rolling cap of CHF 100,000 within 365 days, with buys and sells added together. Buy CHF 60,000 in spring and sell CHF 40,000 in autumn, and you have used up the limit. Card payments are additionally capped at EUR 10,000 per 24 hours and EUR 50,000 per month.
You set up the savings plan in the app, weekly or monthly, and pay it by standing order from your bank with your personal reference. The strategy is called Dollar-cost averaging: investing a fixed amount at regular intervals regardless of price, which smooths out your average entry price., and it takes away the question of timing. The CHF 50 minimum per execution applies here too.
Above CHF 100,000 a year you move to Relai Private, starting at CHF 100,000 with individual limits. Fees drop in steps: 0.90% from CHF 100,000, 0.45% from CHF 1 million, down to 0.20% from CHF 50 million. Companies use Relai Business, with fees from 2.00% down to 0.40%.
Selling and cashing out
Selling happens in the app: choose the amount, send the bitcoin to Relai and the francs arrive in your registered bank account. The same 1% fee, CHF 50 minimum and yearly cap apply, and you pay the network fee. To sell bitcoin held elsewhere, send it to your Relai wallet first. What banks ask for when larger crypto proceeds land in your account is covered in cashing out crypto in Switzerland.
Taxes
Because your bitcoin sits in your own wallet, no bank statement reports the balance for you. You declare its value on 31 December yourself in the securities list of your tax return, using the rate in the federal tax administration’s price list. Capital gains are tax-free for private investors; wealth tax applies to the balance. We found no Swiss electronic tax statement from Relai. According to tax-software providers, the transaction history can be exported from the app and serves as your record of buys and sells. How to fill in the form is explained in declaring crypto on your tax return.
Pros and cons
What works
- Bitcoin goes straight to your own wallet with a 12-word phrase
- 1.0% service fee, 0.9% with an invite code; Relai pays the network fee on purchases
- One savings-plan purchase of up to CHF 100 a month without a service fee
- Zurich company, VQF member by its own account
- Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay accepted
Watch out for
- Bitcoin only – no ether, Solana or USDT
- CHF 50 minimum per buy or sell
- Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay cost an extra 3%
- Cap of CHF 100,000 per 365 days, buys and sells combined
- Spread not quantified, no Swiss electronic tax statement
Opening an account step by step
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Install the app
Download Relai from the App Store or Google Play and select Switzerland as your country.
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Create and secure your wallet
The app generates a 12-word recovery phrase. Write it on paper, keep it offline and never photograph it.
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Verify your identity
Have valid ID ready. Since October 2024, verification has been mandatory for every user.
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Transfer francs
Send at least CHF 50 by bank transfer with the personal reference shown in the app – or pay by card with the 3% surcharge.
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Set up the savings plan
Weekly or monthly, by standing order. One purchase of up to CHF 100 a month is exempt from the service fee.
Besides ID, you need a bank account in your own name. For larger amounts, Relai may ask where the money comes from, backed by a salary certificate or bank statement. How transfers to crypto providers work is explained in buying crypto by bank transfer.
Alternatives to Relai
If you also want bitcoin only in your own wallet, but without a minimum amount, Pocket is the obvious alternative. DFX in Zug covers more than 80 coins, also without holding them for you. If you want other coins and are happy for the provider to hold them, look at SwissBorg with about 400 coins or Kraken, with free CHF deposits via SIC.
