FINMA published its Supplement to the Guidelines for Enquiries Regarding the Regulatory Framework for Initial Coin Offerings on September 11, 2019. The Swiss agency guidance explains how existing financial market laws apply to stablecoins according to their backing, holder rights and economic function. It supplements the February 2018 ICO guidelines without changing them and sets no separate statutory commencement date. 2019 supplement, section 1.
As of November 3, 2026, FINMA continues to list the supplement on its authorisation guidance page. Its status is published supervisory guidance, with further clarification provided by Guidance 06/2024. FINMA authorisation guidance. 2024 guidance announcement.
Regulatory approach and scope
FINMA assesses the activity behind a token rather than treating the stablecoin label as a distinct legal category. Its approach applies existing safeguards to comparable risks while considering each project’s design. The framework addresses market participants seeking an assessment under Swiss financial market law; its classifications do not establish how a token would be treated abroad. FINMA’s classification approach. 2019 supplement, sections 1–2.
The supplement covers tokens linked to currencies, commodities, real estate and securities. FINMA’s contemporaneous account explains that payment use commonly brings these arrangements within anti-money-laundering law, while holder entitlements can also bring banking or collective-investment regulation into play. FINMA’s 2019 supervisory account.
The parent ICO guidelines already distinguished payment, utility and asset tokens, including combinations of their functions. The supplement extends that analytical approach to common stablecoin structures. 2018 ICO guidelines, section 3.1.
How stablecoin designs are classified
A fixed redemption claim in a fiat currency indicates a deposit. For currency baskets, the allocation of investment risk helps distinguish deposits from collective investment schemes: issuer-borne risk points towards deposits, while holder-borne risk points towards collective investment treatment. FINMA reiterated that distinction in 2024. 2019 supplement, section 2.2.1. Guidance 06/2024, section 2.
Other indicative classifications depend on the asset and legal claim:
- Commodities: contractual claims to bank precious metals point towards deposits; claims on other commodities generally constitute securities and potentially derivatives where linked to financial-market activity. Genuine ownership structures receive different treatment. Section 2.2.2.
- Real estate: third-party management and redemption claims linked to property values point towards collective investment schemes. Section 2.2.3.
- Securities: delivery claims linked to individual securities normally constitute securities; claims on a managed basket can indicate collective investment schemes. Section 2.2.4.
For commodity ownership tokens, the distinction requires an actual ownership right, its transfer with the token, and a custody arrangement outside Article 481 of the Code of Obligations. FINMA leaves property-law validity to the parties. Section 2.2.2.
These are indicative classifications rather than automatic approvals. The specific contractual structure and associated activities remain decisive. Section 2.2.
Licensing, AML and payment systems
The supplement preserves existing bank-licensing exemptions, including taking deposits only from banks, other prudentially supervised institutions or institutional investors with professional treasury operations. The absence of an express redemption claim does not, by itself, remove a project from financial market regulation. Section 2.2.1.
FINMA identifies AML law as applicable in almost all cases because stablecoins commonly serve as payment instruments. Significant payment systems can also require authorisation. In its accompanying Libra assessment, FINMA explained that additional services creating banking-like risks could attract further capital, liquidity and reserve-management requirements. That assessment was provisional and project-specific. FINMA’s stablecoin assessment. 2019 announcement and Libra assessment.
Project information and enforcement
FINMA’s enquiry checklist covers stabilisation, redemption, asset management and risk allocation. It also warns of likely enforcement against implausible stabilisation projects conducted in or from Switzerland. The supplement creates no separate schedule of fines. Section 2.3 and Appendix 1.
FINMA cautions that the stablecoin label does not guarantee price stability or investment safety. Product design determines the risks, and civil-law uncertainties can affect the transfer and enforcement of token-linked claims. Section 3.
Later guidance and legislative developments
Guidance 06/2024, published on July 26, 2024, expands on AML obligations and bank default guarantees. It explains customer and beneficial-owner identification duties and the conditions for a guarantee-based banking exemption. These later details belong to the 2024 guidance rather than the original supplement. Guidance 06/2024, sections 3–4.
Separately, the Federal Council opened consultation on a Financial Institutions Act amendment on October 22, 2025, proposing new categories for payment instrument institutions and crypto-institutions. The reviewed official materials describe a legislative reform proposal, not an enacted replacement for the 2019 supplement. Federal Council consultation announcement. SIF regulatory project overview.
