DLT Act Switzerland: What It Means for Crypto and Blockchain in 2025

When you hear DLT Act Switzerland, a 2021 Swiss law that legally recognizes distributed ledger technology for financial applications. Also known as Blockchain Act, it created the first clear legal path for crypto companies to operate without falling into gray areas of banking or securities law. This isn’t just a technical update—it’s a full rewrite of how digital assets are treated under Swiss civil and financial law.

Switzerland didn’t just allow crypto. It built a system where DLT licensing, a new type of permit for tokenized asset platforms and digital custodians became a real option. Before this, companies had to force-fit into existing banking or payment licenses. Now, if you’re running a tokenized bond platform or a digital asset exchange, you can apply for a DLT license directly through FINMA, Switzerland’s financial regulator. This made Zurich and Zug hotspots for blockchain startups that wanted to operate legally—not just tax-efficiently.

The law also clarified ownership rules for digital assets. If you hold tokens on a platform, the DLT Act says those tokens are your property, not the platform’s. That means if the platform goes under, your crypto isn’t treated like a bank deposit that disappears in bankruptcy. This matters because it gives users real legal standing. And for businesses, it means they can build products knowing the rules won’t change mid-project. Related to this, Swiss blockchain regulation, a framework that combines legal clarity with innovation-friendly oversight has attracted firms from the EU and beyond who want to avoid the unpredictable crackdowns happening elsewhere.

What you won’t find in the DLT Act? Blanket bans on DeFi, NFTs, or AI-driven trading bots. The law is narrow—it covers tokenized assets and digital settlement systems. But that narrowness is its strength. It doesn’t try to control everything. It just gives legal footing to what’s already happening. That’s why you’ll see posts here about Swiss-based crypto exchanges, tokenized real estate projects, and even crypto custody solutions—all built under this law.

There’s no hype here. No vague promises of "the future of finance." Just real rules that let real companies operate. And because of that, the DLT Act Switzerland is one of the few crypto laws that actually works in practice. You’ll find posts below that dig into specific cases: how a startup got licensed, what paperwork FINMA actually requires, why some firms moved from Germany to Zug, and how this law compares to the EU’s MiCA regulation. This isn’t theory. It’s what’s happening on the ground—and what you need to know if you’re building, investing, or just trying to understand where crypto is actually legal today.