Raiffeisen crypto services are coming. Over the course of 2027, the second-largest Swiss bank will offer trading and custody of selected cryptocurrencies. The cooperative confirmed this to CVJ.CH, with Sygnum Bank serving as its external partner.
Raiffeisen Switzerland is a cooperative made up of 212 legally independent banks headquartered in St. Gallen. Measured by total assets of around 323 billion CHF, it ranks as the second-largest Swiss banking group after UBS. By number of clients, however, it is the country's largest retail bank. Its business model rests on local retail banking: mortgages, savings deposits and investment advice for private individuals as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. Mortgage loans alone added up to 230.9 billion CHF at the end of 2025. In addition, the group counted 3.7 million clients, 225.8 billion CHF in customer deposits and a custody volume of 59.7 billion CHF. For its upcoming offering, the bank is not building its own infrastructure. Instead, it relies on Sygnum as an external provider.
Crypto trading and custody at Raiffeisen from 2027
The bank says it continuously develops its offering to meet the changing needs of its clients. Demand is rising for ways to invest in cryptocurrencies through a secure, locally anchored and trusted provider. Therefore, Raiffeisen decided to make trading and custody of selected cryptocurrencies available over the course of 2027.
Which coins the offering will include has not yet been communicated by the bank. Likewise, it remains open in which quarter the launch will take place. After a careful evaluation, Raiffeisen settled on Sygnum as its external partner. Sygnum is a regulated Swiss bank with a crypto focus. According to Raiffeisen, it brings extensive expertise to support the launch and further development of the offering.
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Regulated infrastructure instead of in-house development
Sygnum is a FINMA-regulated Swiss bank focused on digital assets. The institution was founded in 2018 and received its banking license in August 2019. In addition, it holds a license from the financial regulator MAS in Singapore. In January 2025, Sygnum then reached unicorn status with a valuation of more than 1 billion USD. This followed a financing round of 58 million USD led by Fulgur Ventures.
Commercially, the provider concentrates on the B2B segment. Through an API-based platform, more than 20 partner banks worldwide integrate crypto services into their own offering, including buying, selling, custody and tokenization. Furthermore, the platform adds compliance advisory and a modular product range from which each bank selects the suitable package. For Raiffeisen, Sygnum is not an unfamiliar player. Previously, the two houses had already worked together, among other things in a joint sandbox for a CHF stablecoin. UBS, PostFinance, Zürcher Kantonalbank and BCV are also involved in that project.
Swiss banks bet on crypto trading
Raiffeisen is not acting in isolation. Instead, it joins an already ongoing market trend. Switzerland leads the world in crypto banking. Around 20 banks offer such services domestically, more than in any other country. Among them are some of the country's largest institutions, including PostFinance and the cantonal banks of Zurich, Zug, Lucerne and St. Gallen. UBS, too, plans to offer crypto trading to its wealthy clients soon. In the background, AMINA and Sygnum stand as two FINMA-regulated crypto specialist banks that serve the market as B2B infrastructure.
Many of these banks, however, are not acting out of strategic conviction in the sector. Instead, clients demand an offering from their primary bank, otherwise they switch to specialized providers such as Swissquote or a crypto exchange. As a result, this leads to substantial outflows. The Zürcher Kantonalbank put these at at least 600 million francs. PostFinance, meanwhile, cited more than one billion CHF. Following Raiffeisen's entry, the megabank UBS now remains the last of the country's leading houses that does not give its retail clients direct access to crypto assets.
