BancaStato launches regulated crypto trading with Sygnum

BancaStato, the cantonal bank serving Switzerland’s Italian-speaking Ticino region, has launched regulated cryptocurrency trading by integrating Sygnum’s trading and custody services into its Avaloq banking platform. Customers can buy, sell and hold Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Solana through the bank’s web and mobile apps.

The bank announced the service on Thursday. Sygnum’s API now connects directly to Avaloq’s software-as-a-service core banking system, enabling crypto trading from existing e-banking interfaces. According to the companies, the arrangement removes the need for a separate order management system and reduces operational steps, which can simplify future feature additions.

Avaloq, headquartered in Zurich, provides the back-end and digital banking software. Sygnum supplies custody, trade execution and the bank-to-bank infrastructure that links trading to customers’ accounts. Sygnum’s business-to-business platform already supports more than 25 financial institutions.

In late June, Sygnum Europe AG obtained a crypto-asset service provider license from Liechtenstein’s Financial Market Authority under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation. That license permits Sygnum Europe to offer regulated crypto-asset services to partner banks under MiCA rules. Under Sygnum’s operating model, partner banks retain responsibility for their own regulatory arrangements while using Sygnum’s licensed custody and trading infrastructure.

Fritz Jost, Sygnum’s chief B2B officer, described the configuration as allowing banks “to go from decision to live offering in months rather than years” and called the launch a “significant step in the maturity and scalability of regulated digital asset infrastructure.”

BancaStato customers can now trade the four tokens within the bank’s existing channels, with custody provided by Sygnum. According to the firms, the integration is intended to make it easier for banks to add regulated digital-asset services without undertaking multi-year builds or separate licensing processes.