Wealth Tax Treatment of Crypto in Switzerland: What You Need to Know in 2025

Switzerland doesn’t tax your crypto profits - but it does tax your crypto holdings. That’s the quiet secret behind why so many crypto investors live here. If you own Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other digital asset, the Swiss government doesn’t care how much you made selling it. What they care about is how much you still have on December 31st each year. This isn’t a loophole. It’s the law. And it’s one of the most investor-friendly systems in the world.

How Switzerland Classifies Crypto

Switzerland doesn’t treat crypto like cash. The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) calls it crypto-based assets - the same category as stocks and bonds. This matters because it means crypto is part of your personal wealth, not your income. That distinction changes everything. Whether it’s Bitcoin, Dogecoin, or a new DeFi token, if you hold it privately, it’s treated as an asset. Not a currency. Not a payment tool. Just something you own.

The FTA breaks crypto into three types: payment tokens (like BTC and ETH), utility tokens (used to access services), and security tokens (backed by rights like dividends). Payment tokens get the simplest treatment. They’re included in your wealth tax but exempt from capital gains tax. Security tokens? They’re treated like shares - same rules as stocks. Utility tokens vary depending on how they’re used. If it’s just a key to a platform, it’s treated like a payment token. If it gives you a share of profits, it’s treated like a security.

What You Must Declare

Every year, by December 31st, you must list every crypto asset you own. No exceptions. Even if you bought $500 worth of a tiny altcoin in 2020 and never touched it, you still declare it. The FTA publishes official year-end prices for major coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple. You use those numbers to convert your holdings into Swiss francs.

But what if your coin isn’t on the FTA list? Then you use the price from the exchange where you last traded it. If you never traded it? You use the original purchase price in CHF. That’s it. No fancy formulas. No market averages. Just the cost you paid or the last known price. This keeps things simple - but only if you’ve kept good records.

How Much Tax Do You Pay?

Wealth tax isn’t federal. It’s cantonal. Switzerland has 26 cantons, and each sets its own rate. Most charge between 0.3% and 1% per year on your total net wealth - including your crypto, real estate, savings, and investments. Zurich might charge 0.6%, while Geneva could charge 0.8%. The more you own, the higher the rate, but it’s never progressive like income tax.

Let’s say you hold 2 Bitcoin worth CHF 150,000 at year-end. If you live in a canton with a 0.7% wealth tax rate, you pay CHF 1,050. That’s it. No matter if Bitcoin jumped 300% that year. No matter if you sold half of it in March. The tax is only on what’s left on December 31st.

Capital Gains? Exempt - Unless You’re a Pro

Here’s the real kicker: if you’re a private investor, you pay zero capital gains tax on crypto profits. Ever. Sell your Bitcoin for a CHF 1 million profit? No tax. Trade ETH for SOL and make CHF 50,000? No tax. This applies to all private assets - crypto, stocks, even art. Switzerland doesn’t tax wealth growth. Only wealth存量.

But if you’re a professional trader? That’s a different story. The FTA uses Circular No. 36 to define who counts as a professional. If you trade full-time, use leverage, have a business structure, or trade more than 10 times a month, you’re likely classified as a trader. Then your crypto gains are taxed as income - at your regular income tax rate, which can be 10% to 40% depending on your canton and income level. Businesses that hold crypto as part of their operations? Same thing. Profits are taxable. Losses are deductible.

Staking, Mining, and DeFi - What’s Taxed?

New crypto activities? Switzerland already has answers. Mining is treated as a business activity. If you run a mining rig, your earnings are taxable income. You pay income tax on the value of the coins you mine when you receive them. Same goes for running a node or validating transactions for rewards.

Staking and DeFi yield? It’s trickier. If you earn interest or rewards from staking ETH or lending on Aave, the FTA treats those as income - not capital gains. You pay income tax on the value of the tokens received when they hit your wallet. If you later sell those tokens, you don’t pay capital gains tax on the profit - because you already paid income tax on the original value.

DeFi swaps? If you swap one token for another, it’s not a taxable event. Only when you sell for CHF or fiat does it trigger a capital gain - but again, private investors don’t pay it. Only professionals do.

Why This System Works

Switzerland’s system isn’t perfect - but it’s predictable. You know exactly what you owe. No surprises. No retroactive rules. No sudden tax hikes on crypto profits. The rules haven’t changed since 2019, and they’re not changing in 2025. That’s why companies like Coinbase, Kraken, and Ledger chose Switzerland as their European base. Investors from Germany, France, and the UK move here not just for the quality of life - but for the tax clarity.

Experts from Koinly and Ark-fid.ch confirm: Switzerland remains one of the top three countries globally for private crypto investors. The FTA doesn’t create new crypto taxes. They apply existing rules - fairly and consistently. No blockchain-specific tax. No digital asset levy. No NFT-specific rules. Just wealth tax on what you own.

What Investors Actually Do

Real investors don’t just rely on theory. They act. Many choose to live in cantons with the lowest wealth tax rates - like Schwyz or Zug. Some spread assets across family members to stay under higher tax brackets. Others time their sales so they don’t trigger any unintended classification as a trader. A few even keep a separate wallet for trading (to show intent) and another for long-term holding (to prove it’s private wealth).

But the biggest challenge? Getting accurate prices for obscure tokens. If you hold a token not listed by the FTA, you need to track every transaction on your exchange. If you used multiple platforms? You need records from each. No receipts? You default to your original purchase price. That’s why most Swiss crypto owners use tools like Koinly or CoinTracker to auto-import trades and calculate year-end values.

What’s Not Taxed

You don’t pay tax on:

• Buying crypto with CHF
• Transferring crypto between your own wallets
• Receiving crypto as a gift from family (if below CHF 20,000)
• Using crypto to buy goods or services (unless you’re a business)
• Profits from selling crypto as a private person

And you don’t pay VAT on crypto transactions - unless you’re selling a service paid in crypto. Then it’s treated like any other payment.

What Could Change in 2026

Nothing major. The Swiss government has no plans to introduce capital gains tax on crypto. They’ve made it clear: their goal is to attract and retain digital asset businesses and investors. The DLT Act of 2021 and the FTA’s 2024 updates show they’re doubling down on stability, not tightening.

But watch for one thing: if staking rewards become too common, the FTA might require more detailed reporting. Right now, you just declare the value of rewards received. In the future, they might ask for transaction logs. That’s not a tax change - just better compliance.

Final Take

Switzerland doesn’t make you pay for winning with crypto. It just asks you to declare what you’ve won. That’s the difference between a country that fears innovation and one that understands it. If you’re holding crypto as an investment - not as a business - Switzerland gives you the freedom to grow without the fear of a tax bill later. No other country offers that combination of clarity, stability, and fairness.