FINMA clears Switzerland's first Bitcoin fund as Europe opens retail access

Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority approved the country’s first exchange-traded retail fund that directly holds Bitcoin on Tuesday, October 20. The fund concentrates on a single asset and is open to retail buyers, unlike the Crypto Market Index Fund FINMA approved in 2021, which was limited to qualified investors and spread money across a basket of tokens. FINMA granted an exemption from Switzerland’s public-fund risk diversification rules, citing Bitcoin’s long trading history and higher trading volume than other cryptocurrencies, and said that reasoning does not extend to other cryptocurrencies. The approval follows Switzerland’s earlier listing of crypto exchange-traded products; as of April 2026, the SIX Swiss Exchange reported 397 crypto products, including 217 crypto ETPs tied to 23 underlying assets.