Swiss Regulator Approves First Retail Fund That Holds Bitcoin Directly

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or FINMA, announced Tuesday that it approved the country's first retail fund that invests directly in Bitcoin.

It's an exchange-traded fund or ETF, so its shares trade on an exchange like any listed stock. Under Swiss law, FINMA classified it as an "other fund for alternative investments" with a specific risk.

FINMA waived the applicable risk diversification rules for the fund, citing Bitcoin's long trading history and particularly high trading volume compared with other cryptocurrencies.

“As Bitcoin has a long trading history and a particularly high trading volume compared with other cryptocurrencies, FINMA has approved an exemption from the applicable risk diversification rules in this case,” the regulator said.

FINMA cleared a crypto fund back in September 2021, the Crypto Market Index Fund, but sales were restricted to qualified investors rather than the general public. It invested mainly in a basket of crypto assets, not Bitcoin alone.

Institutions supervised by FINMA have to cut operational and custody risks, per guidance the regulator published on Jan. 12, 2026. That guidance flags cyberattacks and inadequate protection of private keys—the cryptographic credentials that control access to coins—as operational risks.

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Under the guidance, a Swiss custodian bank generally has to hold a Swiss fund's Bitcoin. It can hand safekeeping to a third-party custodian at home or abroad, but that custodian needs equivalent oversight of its financial soundness and equivalent bankruptcy protection for crypto assets. Translation: if the custodian goes under, the coins can be separated from its estate.

Firms selling the fund have to follow the conduct rules of Swiss financial services law at the point of sale. That means clear warnings about volatility and the risk of losing money, plus a check that the product suits the buyer. FINMA says that's more protection than buying crypto directly.

Crypto exchange-traded products already have listing rules on both Swiss exchanges. FINMA's January guidance treats them as structured products under financial services law. The new approval is a different animal: an investment fund under Swiss fund law.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, which track Bitcoin's price and trade like stocks on a brokerage app, were down about $615 million for October through Friday. BlackRock's IBIT, the largest of the 12 funds with $66.37 billion in net assets, took in $665.2 million on Monday and was the only one with net inflows. Total net inflows for the day were $526.6 million, per Decrypt’s ETF tracker.

FINMA's release doesn't name the Swiss fund or its issuer, and it gives no launch date. The regulator said only that other providers have submitted or announced applications for Bitcoin ETFs.