Bitcoin Suisse, one of Switzerland’s oldest crypto financial services firms, plans to shift up to half of its Swiss jobs abroad as it restructures around an international wealth management strategy — a move its CEO insists is about expansion, not distress.
By Sarah Park | September 12, 2026
The restructuring could affect up to 60 of the company’s 120 Swiss positions, primarily in back-office and administrative roles, according to a Friday report from Swiss financial publication Finews. The affected functions are expected to move to lower-cost hubs in Bratislava and Vietnam, where Bitcoin Suisse plans to establish a new location in the coming years.
The Restructuring in Detail
Founded in Zug in 2013, Bitcoin Suisse provides crypto trading, custody, staking and lending services, making it one of the longest-standing institutions in the Swiss digital asset market. The company confirmed at its annual general assembly that it is strengthening its global expansion push, and the job relocation now appears to be the operational backbone of that strategy.
According to Finews, the roles being moved are concentrated in administrative and support functions rather than client-facing or revenue-generating positions. The choice of Bratislava and Vietnam reflects a classic offshore playbook: both locations offer significantly lower operating costs than Zug, one of Europe’s most expensive business hubs, while providing access to trained financial services talent.
Cost Cutting, Not Capitulation, CEO Says
CEO Andrej Majcen was direct about the economics. He told Finews that operating the affected services in the two countries would be significantly less expensive than keeping them in Switzerland. Crucially, he pushed back on any suggestion that the move was a response to weakness in the crypto market.
Instead, Majcen framed the restructuring as part of Bitcoin Suisse’s strategy to expand internationally and build a broader wealth and asset management business. That distinction matters for clients: a firm cutting costs to fund expansion is a very different story from a firm shrinking to survive a downturn.
- Up to 60 of 120 Swiss roles affected — primarily back-office and administrative positions, per Finews
- New hubs planned — Bratislava and Vietnam, to be established in the coming years
- Licensing footprint growing — Liechtenstein and Bermuda secured earlier this year, full Abu Dhabi approval in July
- Strategic pivot — toward institutional clients, family offices, asset managers and high-net-worth individuals
The Global Expansion Track Record
The relocation did not come out of nowhere. In June, Bitcoin Suisse said it was expanding beyond its Swiss home market, explicitly targeting institutional clients, family offices, asset managers and high-net-worth individuals as part of its evolution toward a global wealth management platform.
The regulatory groundwork has been laid steadily through 2026. The company secured licenses in Liechtenstein and Bermuda earlier this year, and its Middle East subsidiary received full regulatory approval in Abu Dhabi in July. Taken together, the licensing spree and the operational restructuring point to a firm repositioning itself as a multi-jurisdictional wealth manager rather than a purely Swiss crypto broker.
What It Means for Crypto’s Institutional Ambitions
Bitcoin Suisse’s move is a useful signal for the broader industry. As crypto firms mature into wealth management businesses, they increasingly behave like traditional financial institutions — and that means the same cost discipline, the same offshore back-office economics, and the same multi-jurisdictional licensing strategies that private banks have used for decades.
For Swiss crypto workers, the news is tougher. Zug has marketed itself as “Crypto Valley” for years, and the loss of up to half of a flagship firm’s local positions is a reminder that even true believers in digital assets answer to the same spreadsheet logic as every other financial services company. Whether other Zug-based firms follow suit will be worth watching.
For Bitcoin itself, the macro backdrop remains choppy. Bitcoin was trading around 77,300 US dollars at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko data, after a volatile week in which hotter-than-expected US inflation prints pushed bond yields to multi-decade highs. Firms building long-horizon wealth businesses around crypto assets are effectively betting that today’s price noise will matter far less than the structural adoption curve.
The Verdict
Bitcoin Suisse’s restructuring reads as a calculated bet: strip out high-cost Swiss overhead, plant flags in cheaper jurisdictions, and redirect resources toward a global wealth management platform serving well-capitalized clients. The CEO’s insistence that this is strategy rather than retreat is credible given the simultaneous licensing expansion — distressed firms rarely win new regulatory approvals in three jurisdictions in a single year.
Still, execution risk is real. Moving up to half of domestic staff abroad while trying to upgrade into premium wealth services is a delicate balancing act, and clients paying Swiss-grade fees will expect Swiss-grade service. The next few quarters will show whether Bitcoin Suisse can have both the cost base of Bratislava and the reputation of Zug.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
finews said up to 60 of 120 so the ceiling is the headline. still, liechtenstein and bermuda licenses plus asia ops means swiss crypto is now mostly the brochure
60 of 120 positions moving to Bratislava and Vietnam while the CEO calls it a wealth push lol. Zug office rents will do that to you
to be fair, ops in Vietnam costs a fraction and wealth clients dont care where back office sits. but cutting half your swiss staff is a rebuild of the whole company
half the swiss staff walking out takes institutional knowledge with them. good luck getting a bespoke staking report out of a brand new bratislava team in year one
this. half the appeal of a 2013 zug shop was picking up the phone and talking to someone who was there for the cryptofund days. that knowledge does not fit in bratislava training docs
this is my worry too. bespoke custody was the whole product, a year one bratislava team is gonna be copy pasting from the internal wiki lol
bratislava has plenty of solid custody engineers actually, kinecti and a few funds run ops there fine. the gap is client facing swiss wealth types, those dont relocate
Tord Lov has it backwards imo. the bratislava engineers will be fine, its the zug relationship managers with the family office contacts you cant replace in a year
counterpoint, family office relationships walk when the ops under them degrade. the zug RMs need bratislava settlement to actually work or the contacts stop mattering
60 of 120 jobs moving abroad and the ceo calls it expansion not distress lol. at least bratislava being cheaper than zug is the one honest part
Swiss firm keeps the Zug letterhead, moves back office to Bratislava and Vietnam, licenses in Liechtenstein and Bermuda. Crypto Valley is becoming more of a marketing term every year
right? zug was supposed to be the destination, now its just the address on the incorporation docs
the zug address still matters for the license tho. wealth clients pay the premium precisely because FINMA has teeth, bratislava back office changes nothing legally
FINMA teeth cut both ways tho. license stays in zug, headcount leaves, and suddenly the regulator asks who actually performs the licensed activity
Bitcoin Suisse custody client since 2019 here. move the back office wherever, just keep the keys in switzerland please
keys staying in zug is the only part clients actually notice. everything else on a custody account is invoices and support emails anyway
@Eva Brun keys in zug means little if the ops staff running staking and settlement walk. custody is an ops problem, the address is just stationary
been a client since 2020 and honestly same. keys stay in zug or im out, dont care where the invoices come from
Calling it a wealth push while moving up to 60 of 120 Swiss roles to Bratislava and Vietnam is bold wording. The Finews report is clear that admin and support go first, so the Zug desk survives, but the identity of the firm changes fast.
@Hanne Rask bold wording or honest spin, wealth push and cost cut are the same deck slide in 2026. zug keeps the letterhead, the p&l moves east
Fair point on the Zug desk surviving, but who answers when a staking report is wrong at 3am? The Finews piece said admin goes first, and that is exactly where client trust quietly erodes.
bermuda and liechtenstein licenses plus vietnam ops. the swiss crypto story is now three timezones stapled together, works until a custody incident happens at 3am
The three timezones line is good but honestly every big custodian runs like that already. Difference is Bitcoin Suisse sold the Zug phone number as the product.
the vietnam hub is the bigger tell, bratislava is just cost arbitrage. follow where wealth management demand actually is, its asia and the ceo knows it
@HelvetBridge exactly, bratislava is the invoice move. vietnam plus the bermuda license is the actual strategy, wealth clients in asia who were never flying to zug anyway
60 of 120 swiss roles moving abroad and the pitch is still the zug phone number. the bermuda license at least maps to where the wealth actually is