Swiss Bank BancaStato has started offering regulated cryptocurrency trading to clients through a partnership with Sygnum and banking software provider Avaloq. This brings another Swiss lender to the group of banks embedding digital assets inside existing online banking systems.
The Ticino cantonal bank has connected Sygnum’s business-to-business API with Avaloq’s core banking and digital banking channels.
The integration allows BancaStato clients to buy, hold and sell Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Solana directly through the bank’s web and mobile banking applications, without using a separate crypto exchange or external wallet.
The rollout is notable because BancaStato is using Sygnum’s API directly inside Avaloq’s software-as-a-service environment.
According to Sygnum, BancaStato is the first bank on Avaloq’s SaaS environment to let clients buy, hold and sell crypto through Sygnum’s API from within its e-banking platforms.
That matters because much of bank crypto adoption has so far been blocked not by client demand, but by plumbing.
Banks need regulated custody, trading execution, compliance controls, risk management and integration with legacy core banking systems. A direct API model can reduce the need for a separate order management system, lowering operational complexity and shortening the path to launch.
“We are proud to welcome BancaStato to our fast-growing B2B network, which illustrates the growing demand for Sygnum’s regulated, API-driven digital asset services that integrate directly into existing core banking systems,” Fritz Jost, Sygnum’s Chief B2B Officer, said in a statement shared with AlexaBlockchain.
“BancaStato, becoming the first bank on Avaloq’s SaaS environment to enable clients to buy, hold and sell crypto via API with Sygnum directly from within its e-banking platforms, marks a significant step in the maturity and scalability of regulated digital asset infrastructure,” Fritz added.
BancaStato, formally Banca dello Stato del Cantone Ticino, is the cantonal bank serving Ticino in southern Switzerland.
The bank and its private banking affiliate Axion SWISS Bank renewed their Avaloq Core Platform agreement in 2023, with Avaloq saying at the time that both institutions used Avaloq’s platform in a SaaS model and its banking operations offering.
For clients, the immediate change is access.
They can place market orders by quantity or dollar value inside existing e-banking and mobile banking channels. Sygnum will provide the execution and custody layer, while BancaStato keeps the front-end relationship with clients.
Client assets will be held through Sygnum’s custody infrastructure and kept off-balance sheet, according to the announcement.
That structure is important in Switzerland because it is intended to give clients legal and regulatory protection if a custodian becomes insolvent, although crypto assets remain volatile and can lose value sharply.
The launch also extends Sygnum’s bank-to-bank strategy.
Sygnum said in 2024 that its B2B partners included PostFinance, Zuger Kantonalbank, Luzerner Kantonalbank, VZ Depotbank, PKB, SocGen Forge, Bordier and Bison Digital Assets, and that those partners collectively gave more than a third of Switzerland’s population access to digital assets through partner banks.
PostFinance is one of the more visible examples.
The Swiss financial institution launched a crypto offering with Sygnum in 2024 for its 2.5 million customers, allowing users to access crypto through PostFinance’s own e-finance and app channels.
In May 2026, PostFinance expanded the service to corporate clients, allowing them to trade 22 cryptocurrencies and stake Ethereum directly through e-finance or the PostFinance app.
Those launches show how Swiss bank crypto adoption is shifting from standalone experiments to embedded banking services.
Instead of asking clients to move funds to a crypto-native venue, banks are trying to keep the account, trading interface and custody relationship inside their existing regulated perimeter.
BancaStato’s launch comes shortly after Sygnum Europe received a Crypto-Asset Service Provider licence in Liechtenstein under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation.
Sygnum said the licence, announced on June 30, allows it to expand its regulated platform and bank-to-bank infrastructure into the European market as MiCAR’s transition period ends.
The timing is significant.
MiCAR gives crypto-asset service providers a harmonized licensing framework across the European Union, making it easier for banks to evaluate regulated partners rather than build digital-asset infrastructure from scratch in each market.
Sygnum has been building around that model for years.
The company received a banking and securities dealer licence from Switzerland’s financial regulator FINMA in 2019, one of the first such licences granted to blockchain-focused financial institutions in the country.
It has also grown financially.
Sygnum reached a $1 billion valuation in 2025 after raising $58 million, with Reuters reporting that the company planned to use the funds to expand in Europe and Hong Kong and invest in infrastructure and products.
The BancaStato deal fits into a broader Swiss push to connect traditional banking infrastructure with digital assets.
In April 2026, UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank and BCV joined a sandbox project to test a Swiss-franc stablecoin, with the goal of exploring how blockchain applications could connect to the Swiss franc.
Swiss banks have also tested blockchain-based payment infrastructure.
In 2025, PostFinance, Sygnum and UBS completed a feasibility study for a binding payment using bank deposits on a public blockchain, according to the Swiss Bankers Association.
Market infrastructure is moving in the same direction.
FINMA approved BX Digital, a Swiss subsidiary of Boerse Stuttgart, to operate a blockchain-based trading system in 2025, with the platform designed to support tokenized assets and direct settlement using blockchain infrastructure.
The result is a more institutional phase of crypto adoption in Switzerland.
Earlier cycles were dominated by crypto exchanges, wallets and retail trading apps. The newer phase is being led by banks, software providers and regulated infrastructure firms trying to make crypto access look like another banking function.
With this launch, BancaStato adds a digital-asset product line without operating as a crypto exchange.
Christian Haux, Avaloq’s Managing Director for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, said the project shows how integration can help banks respond faster to investor expectations while keeping services on a unified platform.
For BancaStato clients, he said, the service allows them to view and manage digital and traditional portfolios in one place.
Swiss banks have shown that regulated crypto access can be embedded into mainstream banking apps. The harder question is whether clients use those services beyond Bitcoin and Ether exposure, and whether banks can turn digital assets into a durable revenue line rather than a defensive product extension.
The above article “Swiss Bank BancaStato Brings Bitcoin and Ether Trading Into Its Banking App” was first published on AlexaBlockchain. Read the complete article here: https://alexablockchain.com/swiss-bank-bancastato-brings-bitcoin-and-ether-trading-into-its-banking-app/
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