BancaStato is launching regulated crypto trading for retail clients. Customers of the Ticino cantonal bank can now buy, hold and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Solana directly in e-banking, enabled by an API integration of Sygnum into the Avaloq core banking system.
BancaStato, officially Banca dello Stato del Cantone Ticino, is the cantonal bank of the canton of Ticino. As a public-law institution with a full state guarantee, it offers traditional banking services for retail and corporate clients in the southern canton. Originally founded in 1915, the institution, headquartered in Bellinzona, is today wholly owned by the canton of Ticino. For the crypto infrastructure, the bank cooperates with Sygnum. Licensed by FINMA since 2019, the crypto bank serves as the technical partner. Available for trading initially are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Solana via market order by quantity or USD value. The connection runs directly through an API into the Avaloq core banking system and the digital banking channels. This setup needs no separate order management system. As a result, BancaStato joins the more than 25 banks on Sygnum's B2B platform.
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Sygnum integrates crypto trading directly into the Avaloq core banking system
Technically, the connection marks a step forward in the maturity of regulated crypto offerings. Sygnum's API connects directly to the Avaloq core banking system and the digital banking channels, meaning web and mobile banking. A separate order management system, which many earlier bank integrations required, is therefore not needed. Customers thus place their orders in their familiar e-banking, while Sygnum handles execution in the background. Regulated here means that trading and custody take place under Swiss financial market supervision. For the bank, this at the same time results in less technical effort. It also brings a closer integration with the existing account offering.
At launch, four cryptocurrencies are available: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Solana. Market orders are moreover possible either by quantity or by USD value, which aligns the buying process with everyday e-banking. Selling follows the same familiar e-banking route as buying. Customer assets meanwhile sit in Sygnum's institutional multi-layer custody solution. Sygnum holds them off-balance-sheet and in full regulatory compliance. Consequently, the holdings remain segregated from the rest of the bank's assets. In principle, they stay protected in the event of insolvency.
Avaloq supplies front-to-back software for more than 170 financial institutions worldwide and belongs, as a subsidiary, to NEC Corporation. According to Sygnum, BancaStato is the first bank on Avaloq's SaaS environment to offer crypto purchases via API in e-banking. Curzio De Gottardi heads the Products and Services Division at BancaStato and serves as vice president of the executive board. He frames the combination of traditional investments, investment solutions and digital assets as a strengthening of the group's offering. Fritz Jost, Chief B2B Officer at Sygnum, in turn reads the move as a signal. For him, it shows the scalability of regulated digital asset infrastructure.
"BancaStato will be the first bank on Avaloq's SaaS environment to let its clients buy, hold and sell crypto via API with Sygnum directly from e-banking, a significant step for the maturity and scalability of regulated digital asset infrastructure." - Fritz Jost, Chief B2B Officer, Sygnum
BancaStato becomes the sixth cantonal bank with a regulated crypto offering
BancaStato is the sixth known Swiss cantonal bank with regulated crypto trading for the broad retail client base. The starting point came earlier, in 2023, with the Zug cantonal bank as the first of its kind. In March 2025, the Zug institution expanded its offering with Sygnum to include Cardano and Avalanche. It now covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Polygon, Litecoin and Uniswap.
Additional institutions followed in short order. The Lucerne cantonal bank started in March 2024 with Bitcoin, Ethereum and the stablecoin USDC, likewise with Sygnum's involvement. Later, the institution expanded the range to seven cryptocurrencies, including Chainlink, Polygon and Aave. In autumn 2024, the Zurich cantonal bank followed, initially with Bitcoin and Ethereum. By 2026, the St. Gallen and the Thurgau cantonal banks had joined. The latter opened its offering to the entire client base without investment advice.
The role of Sygnum as an infrastructure partner is striking. Three of the six cantonal banks rely on the provider: the Zug, the Lucerne and now BancaStato. By contrast, the remaining institutions turn to other providers. The St. Gallen cantonal bank, for example, chose AMINA Bank, formerly SEBA. The Zurich cantonal bank builds on Crypto Finance AG, whose solution the Thurgau cantonal bank also adopted. AMINA and Sygnum have both held a FINMA banking license since 2019. For BancaStato, the move therefore represents less a solo effort. It marks a connection to an established standard in Swiss retail banking. Ultimately, a regulated crypto offering is developing from a differentiator into an industry standard.
Sygnum expands its banking network to more than 25 institutions
With BancaStato, Sygnum's B2B platform now counts more than 25 banks and financial institutions. This network includes the Zug cantonal bank, PostFinance and SocGen FORGE, among others. It also spans Bordier & Cie, Incore Bank, Bergos, PKB, Bison Bank and VZ VermögensZentrum. The range thus extends from cantonal banks to the state-owned PostFinance and further to private banks and independent asset managers. Where crypto services previously often ran as a decoupled island solution, trading at BancaStato instead becomes a fixed component. It now sits within the core banking system. For many of these institutions, Sygnum handles trading and custody in the background. In total, the partner banks reach more than a third of the Swiss population, according to Sygnum. That population gains access to digital assets.
This expansion rests on a broad licensing base. Sygnum has held a Swiss banking license from FINMA since 2019. It was thus among the first blockchain financial service providers with such an authorization. At the end of June 2026, Sygnum Europe additionally received a CASP license under the EU regulation MiCAR. The Liechtenstein financial market authority granted it. The MiCAR authorization at the same time opens the EU single market to Sygnum under a unified set of rules. Furthermore, the bank adds CMS and major payment institution licenses in Singapore plus authorizations in Abu Dhabi and Luxembourg. This regulatory framework ultimately allows partner banks to offer crypto services without their own crypto license.
