Swissquote

Swissquote is a FINMA-licensed Swiss bank that brings institutional-grade trading infrastructure to cryptocurrency investors, offering spot trading and staking for Solana (SOL) and 55 other digital assets alongside its traditional securities, forex, and banking products.

Background and History

Founded in 1990 as Marvel Communication SA by Marc Bürki and Paolo Buzzi, Swissquote launched its online trading platform in 1996, giving Swiss retail investors direct access to securities on Swiss exchanges. The company went public on the SIX Swiss Exchange in May 2000 under the ticker SQN and obtained its full banking license from FINMA — Switzerland's Financial Market Supervisory Authority — in 2001.

Swissquote was the first Swiss bank to offer Bitcoin trading, entering the cryptocurrency market in 2017. The bank subsequently expanded into initial coin offerings (ICOs) in 2018, allowing clients to purchase tokens directly in Swiss francs and hold them in custody with Swissquote. Since then, the platform has grown to support 56 cryptocurrencies. As of December 31, 2025, Swissquote managed CHF 88.7 billion in client assets across more than 750,000 accounts and employed approximately 1,450 staff globally. Crypto revenues reached CHF 85.7 million in 2025.

The SQX Crypto Exchange

In October 2022, Swissquote launched SQX, its proprietary cryptocurrency exchange. SQX is fully integrated into the existing Swissquote trading environment — clients use the same account and login for crypto, equities, forex, and banking, with no separate registration required. The platform is accessible on desktop and through the Swissquote mobile app.

SQX aggregates liquidity from top-tier market makers and Swissquote clients, matching orders to generate competitive bid-ask spreads. The exchange offers 56 crypto assets for custody and a range of trading pairs including stablecoin pairs. Supported order types include market, limit, stop-limit, and recurring orders, allowing dollar-cost averaging strategies. Volume-based discounts on maker fees reward active traders: the more volume traded within a rolling 30-day window, the lower the per-transaction fee.

A key feature of SQX is genuine asset ownership. Customers hold real cryptocurrency rather than derivatives or CFD contracts, with their holdings stored in Swissquote's in-house wallet using cold-storage technology developed and operated under Swiss banking security standards.

Solana on Swissquote

Swissquote added Solana (SOL) in September 2021, making it the 24th cryptocurrency available on the platform. At the time, the bank highlighted Solana's record transaction throughput, low fees, and its use of both Proof of Stake and Proof of History consensus mechanisms as distinguishing characteristics within the digital asset landscape.

In August 2022, Swissquote extended its crypto staking suite to include Solana staking. The service allows customers to delegate their SOL holdings to validators operating the Solana network and earn a share of block rewards in return. Staking rewards are distributed approximately every three days. Swissquote currently advertises a staking yield of approximately 6.24% APY for SOL, though actual rates fluctuate based on the total amount of SOL staked network-wide. The bank retains 20% of rewards as a service fee — in line with market norms for custodial staking services. Crucially, there is no mandatory lock-up period: clients can exit their Solana staking position at any time.

Alongside SOL, Swissquote offers staking for Ethereum (ETH, ~2.5% APY), Polkadot (DOT, ~10% APY), and Cardano (ADA, ~2.4% APY). Since 2025, crypto-asset custody costs have been folded into Swissquote's standard custody fee — CHF 20 to 50 per quarter, the same rate applied to traditional securities — rather than charged as a separate crypto line item.

Platform Integration and Additional Features

A Swissquote crypto account is not a standalone product but part of a broader financial platform. The same account provides access to global stock markets, ETFs, bonds, forex and CFD trading, robo-advisory portfolios, and full banking services including a multi-currency Swiss IBAN and a Swissquote Mastercard. Clients can link a crypto debit card that converts digital assets at point of sale. This single-account model removes friction for investors who hold both traditional and digital assets, and means crypto custody falls under the same regulatory umbrella as other Swissquote banking services.

The institutional arm of Swissquote also licenses SQX exchange technology to third-party banks and brokers that want to offer crypto trading without building their own infrastructure.

Regulation and Security

Swissquote Bank Ltd (Switzerland) holds a banking license issued by FINMA. Swissquote Bank Europe SA, operating from Luxembourg, holds a banking license from the CSSF under European Central Bank supervision. Both entities are subject to the anti-money laundering, know-your-customer, and capital adequacy requirements applicable to licensed banks, providing clients with legal protections that unregulated crypto exchanges do not offer. Client crypto assets are held in cold storage within Swissquote's own infrastructure rather than outsourced to a third-party custodian.

Fit in the Solana Ecosystem

Swissquote occupies a distinct position in the Solana ecosystem as a regulated entry point for conservative or compliance-minded investors — retail clients who want SOL exposure and staking yields but require the legal protection and account guarantees of a licensed bank. The platform does not provide access to Solana DeFi protocols, NFT marketplaces, or on-chain applications, and it does not offer self-custody. Instead, it serves as a fiat-to-SOL on-ramp and custodial staking provider, making Solana accessible within a fully regulated Swiss banking environment for the roughly 750,000 accounts on its books.