Bitcoin ETPs in Switzerland: BTCE, 21Shares & Co.

A bitcoin ETP is a security that tracks the bitcoin price and is backed by real bitcoin held by a custodian. In Switzerland you buy it on SIX Swiss Exchange through your normal bank account, in francs, dollars or euros. The products differ mainly in their annual fee: the most expensive costs more than ten times the cheapest. For private investors, Swiss tax treats the ETP almost like real bitcoin.

What a bitcoin ETP is

ETP stands for exchange traded product. Legally it is a debt security: the issuer owes you the value of a fixed amount of bitcoin per unit. You buy and sell it like a share, with a Swiss security number (Valor), an ISIN and brokerage fees.

With a physically backed ETP, the issuer buys real bitcoin for every new unit. A custodian holds them, pledged in favour of the investors. If the issuer fails, these bitcoin are sold and the proceeds paid out to the investors. You then get francs, not bitcoin.

It is not an ETF in the sense of a fund. How the US spot ETFs are built and why they usually cannot be bought in Europe is explained in Bitcoin spot ETFs. Whether an ETP suits you at all, or real bitcoin are the better choice, is compared in the main article Bitcoin ETP or real bitcoin. This article is about Switzerland: which products, how to compare them, what taxes and duties cost.

Why Switzerland led the way on bitcoin ETPs

SIX Swiss Exchange was one of the first regulated exchanges to trade crypto ETPs. The Zug-based issuer 21Shares (then Amun) brought its first products to market there from 2018, and its bitcoin ETP followed in 2019. Today, bitcoin ETPs from several issuers are listed on SIX, Swiss and foreign.

For you this means: any Swiss bank with a securities account can buy them for you. You need no crypto exchange account, no wallet and no seed phrase.

Well-known products: 21Shares, BTCE and co.

Two names come up often in Switzerland.

21Shares Bitcoin ETP (ABTC) is the oldest bitcoin ETP on SIX, issued by 21Shares AG in Zug, with a Swiss ISIN (CH0454664001). It is physically backed. Its fee is high at 1.49 % a year. 21Shares also offers a cheaper "Bitcoin Core ETP" at 0.10 %.

BTCE is the bitcoin ETP of ETC Group, which Bitwise took over in 2024. It is now called Bitwise Physical Bitcoin ETP, has a German ISIN (DE000A27Z304) and is best known on Xetra in Frankfurt. It became popular in Germany because it grants a claim to delivery of the bitcoin. Here too the fee is high at 2.00 %, and Bitwise also has a cheap "Core" product.

There are also physically backed bitcoin ETPs from CoinShares, WisdomTree, iShares and other providers. On which exchanges and in which currencies a product trades is shown on the issuer's page and on SIX under its security number.

Fees according to justETF, as of 12 November 2026. Fees change, often as temporary discounts. The names are examples, not a recommendation. Check with your bank before buying whether a product trades on SIX.

How to compare bitcoin ETPs

1. The TER: the most important number

The TER (total expense ratio) is deducted every year from the bitcoin behind your unit. At 1.49 %, each unit holds 1.49 % fewer bitcoin after one year, whatever the price does. Over many years this is by far the largest cost, much larger than brokerage fees or spread.

2. The backing

Buy only ETPs that are 100 % backed by real bitcoin. It says so in the name ("Physical") and in the prospectus. Many issuers publish daily how many bitcoin are held per unit and at which addresses. Unbacked tracker certificates are only a payment promise from the issuer.

3. The custodian

The bitcoin are not held by the issuer itself but by a specialised custodian. Well-known names are Coinbase Custody, BitGo or Swiss banks offering crypto custody. The prospectus names it. If the custodian is hacked, the collateral is missing. A large, regulated custodian is therefore a plus.

4. Issuer risk

An ETP is a debt of the issuer. If it goes bankrupt, a security trustee sells the deposited bitcoin and pays you out. That may take months. We know of no case in which investors in a large, physically backed bitcoin ETP in Europe lost money this way. It cannot be ruled out. What happens when crypto companies fail is shown in Crypto exchange bankrupt.

5. Spread and trading hours

The spread is the difference between the buying and selling price on the exchange. It is small for large products and can be much wider for small or thinly traded ones. Buy with a limit order and during exchange hours when the bitcoin market is also active.

SIX trades on weekdays, roughly from 9:00 to 17:30. Bitcoin trades around the clock. If the price falls sharply at the weekend, you can only react on Monday, and the opening price jumps accordingly.

6. The currency line: CHF, USD or EUR

Many ETPs trade on SIX in several currencies, each with its own trading line and ticker. Behind them is always the same bitcoin holding. The CHF line is not "hedged into francs"; its price is simply the bitcoin price converted into francs.

This matters for costs: if you buy the USD line with francs, your bank changes francs into dollars, often with a markup of a few tenths of a percent. And again when you sell. If you have francs and want francs back, take the CHF line, unless its spread is clearly wider.

Taxes on bitcoin ETPs in Switzerland

For private investors the same principles apply as for real bitcoin. The details are in Bitcoin taxes in Switzerland. The essentials for ETPs:

• Capital gains are tax-free as long as the ETP belongs to your private assets. Losses cannot be deducted.
• Wealth tax: the ETP counts towards your assets at its value on 31 December. The Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) lists bitcoin ETPs in its price list (ICTax) under their security number. Your bank includes it in your tax statement, which makes the tax return simple.
• No income: a bitcoin ETP pays neither interest nor dividends. So there is no taxable income and no withholding tax.
• Professional trading: if you trade very often, short-term or on credit, the tax authority can classify you as a professional securities trader. Gains are then income. This applies to ETPs just as to real bitcoin.

Stamp duty: the securities transfer tax on purchase

If you buy or sell an ETP through a Swiss bank or Swiss broker, the federal securities transfer stamp duty (Umsatzabgabe) applies. For you as a client it is 0.075 % on securities from Swiss issuers and 0.15 % on foreign ones. The bank shows it on the contract note.

Real bitcoin are not a security under the Stamp Duty Act. No stamp duty applies when you buy them. Compared with the TER the duty is small; it applies only when buying and selling, not every year.

ETP, your own bitcoin or bitcoin at the bank?

In Switzerland there are three routes that are often confused.

An offer like PostFinance's or Yuh's is convenient if you already bank there. But you cannot send the bitcoin to your own wallet; you can only sell them there. That ties you to this bank. Which Swiss providers pay out to your wallet and what they cost is shown in Buying bitcoin in Switzerland.

The ETP fits if

• you may or want to invest only through your bank account, for example via a wealth manager,
• you want to manage your bitcoin share in the same account as shares and bonds,
• holding your own keys is (still) too much for you.

Your own bitcoin fit if

• you want to hold for a long time. Without a running fee, the lead grows every year.
• you want to be independent of issuer, bank and exchange hours,
• you want to send, bequeath or use bitcoin as a reserve that nobody can freeze.

If you choose an ETP, take a physically backed one with a low TER and buy the line in your currency. If you still hold an old, expensive product, do the maths: at a TER of 1.49 % and a long horizon, the stamp duty, brokerage fees and spread for switching usually cost less than one year of fees.