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Token classification ruling
Fix whether your token is a payment, utility or asset token under FINMA practice before you build or raise.
Token classification rulingFinTech & Crypto
in Switzerland.
Switzerland regulates digital assets by what a token does, not what it is called. A payment token, a utility token and an asset token sit under different rules, and the wrong classification at launch is expensive to undo. We position fintech and crypto firms on the right side of FINMA practice from the first ruling onwards.
At a glance
Crypto and payments sit at the core of our flagship financial-regulation practice.
Independent since 2007 · IFLR1000-ranked · offices in Zurich and Zug · one partner per file.
- Core question
- Token classification first
- Usual route
- SRO membership or FINMA licence
- AML
- Mandatory from day one
- Flagship
- Financial regulation since 2014
The challenge
What this sector has to get right in Switzerland
A crypto business entering Switzerland faces three questions before it writes a line of marketing. What are its tokens under the FINMA classification — payment, utility or asset? Does its activity make it a financial intermediary that must affiliate with a self-regulatory organisation, or does it need a full FINMA licence such as a fintech or banking authorisation? And who carries the anti-money-laundering duties from the day the first client is onboarded? Getting these wrong is not a paperwork problem; it determines whether a Swiss bank will open an account and whether the model is lawful at all.
The answers interact. A token-classification ruling from FINMA fixes the regulatory perimeter; that perimeter then decides whether SRO affiliation is enough or a licence is required; and either way an AML framework with a responsible officer, KYC onboarding and transaction monitoring has to be live before launch. A stablecoin or a custody offering adds a further layer, because holding client assets pulls the activity towards banking rules. We sequence this so each decision is made with the next one in view, rather than discovered late.
Because financial regulation has been our specialisation since 2014, the regulated parts of fintech (exchanges, custodians, payment firms, DLT trading venues) are the centre of what we do, not an adjacent service. That matters when a model is novel and the precedent is thin, which in crypto it usually is.
What this desk handles
The services this sector uses most
Each links to the service page itself. Most mandates here combine several; one partner co-ordinates them.
Licensing
Crypto licence Switzerland
Map the authorisation your model needs (SRO affiliation, fintech, securities or banking) and run the application.
Crypto licence SwitzerlandAML
VASP & travel rule
Meet the virtual-asset service-provider duties, including the FINMA travel-rule expectation for transfers.
VASP & travel ruleOngoing
Outsourced AML officer
A qualified responsible officer, onboarding, monitoring and reporting run for you from day one.
Outsourced AML officerIssuance
Stablecoin issuance
Structure a Swiss stablecoin against the banking-law and deposit-protection questions it raises.
Stablecoin issuancePerimeter
SRO membership
Affiliate with a self-regulatory organisation where your activity makes you a financial intermediary.
SRO membershipScale-up
Banking & fintech licence
Move from the fintech sandbox to a fintech or banking licence as deposits and balances grow.
Banking & fintech licenceFoundation
Swiss company formation
Incorporate the operating entity with the substance a regulator and a bank will expect.
Swiss company formation
Talk to the desk
Speak to a partner who knows the sector
No intake form to a junior, no call centre. The partner who reads your enquiry is the one who has run this structure before, and the one who will own your file. Outline your situation and you will have a considered reply, with the likely route and the next step, within one business day.
Why Goldblum and Partners
Swiss depth, one accountable partner
Crypto rarely fits the template, and Swiss precedent is still forming. We have specialised in FINMA and SRO work since 2014, the firm has been independent since 2007, and Goldblum and Partners has been ranked by IFLR1000 every year from 2015 to 2026. One partner owns your file across token ruling, licence and AML, so the regulatory story stays coherent from the first conversation to the bank account.
Launching a crypto or fintech model in Switzerland?
Tell us what your token does and how clients use it. A partner will name the classification, the licence route and the AML setup it needs — and reply within one business day.