🇨🇭Dukascopy Bank: Swiss Bank, Investments and Cryptoassets

Dukascopy Bank SA is a Geneva-based Swiss bank and securities firm supervised by FINMA (commercial register CHE-112.086.322), founded on 2 November 2004 by André and Veronika Duka, who hold 99% of the shares. Unlike the EMI and MSB constructs common in this niche, this is a full banking licence: client deposits fall under the Swiss deposit protection scheme run by esisuisse, which lists the bank as a member, up to CHF 100,000 per client and bank; securities and crypto holdings do not automatically count as protected deposits. The bank combines a multi-currency account with remote onboarding, payment cards, an investment offering and — unusually for a Swiss bank — FINMA-authorised custody and exchange of cryptocurrencies.

Concept

Dukascopy started as an online trading house and grew into a licensed bank. The founding year and the licence year are two different facts and are routinely conflated: per the bank's own history the company was registered in Geneva on 2 November 2004, received its FINMA authorisation for banking activities in 2010, and its securities-firm authorisation in 2013. FINMA's list of authorised banks and securities firms includes Dukascopy Bank SA as a bank. Today the retail proposition is a fully remote Swiss bank account: a multi-currency account in 24 currencies with a personal IBAN and SWIFT, SEPA and Swiss SIX rails, opened via video identification without visiting Geneva.

On top of the account sit cards, an investment programme, private banking from $100,000 and corporate accounts (including for brokers and PSPs). The crypto side runs through dukas.io: buying, selling and holding crypto assets inside the banking perimeter, a P2P crypto-fiat marketplace (911p2p.io), crypto-backed lending, account funding in BTC, ETH and USDT, and the bank's own token, Dukascoin. Compared with the providers on our OTC page or crypto banks like AMINA Bank, the pitch is similar rails but at retail-friendly entry thresholds.

Key parameters

Products and crypto

The core account is free and multi-currency (24 currencies under one IBAN). Cards come in Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay flavours, plastic and virtual; Dukascopy does not issue them itself — issuers are partners such as Corner, CBH, Swiss Bankers, Walletto and Moorwand, and the card balance is capped at 10,000 CHF, so the cards work best for day-to-day spending.

Crypto is the differentiator: the bank holds a FINMA authorisation for crypto exchange and fiduciary custody (announced in May 2022) and lets clients buy, sell and hold coins via dukas.io, fund the account in BTC, ETH or USDT, borrow against crypto and trade peer-to-peer on 911p2p.io. Coins bought on the multi-currency account, other than Dukascoin, are held as unleveraged CFDs, which the bank treats as covered by deposit protection up to CHF 100,000; Dukascoins in the bank's custody are a crypto deposit outside that protection, and fiduciary custody under the 2022 authorisation is reserved for private clients' Savings accounts with planned deposits above USD 100,000 (dukas.io).

The bank also runs its own token, Dukascoin, launched via an ICO — an atypical move for a licensed Swiss bank, and one to treat as a marketing instrument. The investment programme (stocks, ETFs, bonds) charges 1% per transaction plus 1.5% per year maintenance — materially above discount brokers, so it makes sense mainly as a convenience add-on.

Licensing and protection of funds

Dukascopy Bank SA holds a Swiss banking and securities-firm authorisation and is supervised by FINMA; the corporate details and register number CHE-112.086.322 are confirmed by the bank's company page and the Geneva commercial register. The crypto activity is covered by a separate FINMA authorisation for fiduciary custody and exchange of cryptocurrencies, announced by the bank in its own release of May 2022. Dukascopy Bank SA is listed as a member of esisuisse, so eligible deposits are protected up to CHF 100,000 per client and bank. No FINMA enforcement actions against the bank appear in public sources (which is not a guarantee in itself).

Onboarding and geography

Onboarding is fully remote via video identification under FINMA circular 2016/7: the bank advertises "an account in 5 minutes" with approval in roughly 24 hours. The interface is available in Russian, and the bank historically markets to a Russian-speaking audience.

Per the bank's FAQ, residents of the following are not accepted: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Japan, North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan and South Sudan, Syria, Russia, the US, Venezuela, Yemen and the Comoros, plus Crimea, the so-called DNR/LNR, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. In practice, residents of Russia and Belarus cannot open an account, while Russian-speaking residents of other countries can: the bank's admission test is residence, the same logic described in our guide to personal accounts abroad.

Swiss sanctions law adds a citizenship test for Russian nationals. Under Article 20 of the Ukraine Ordinance (SR 946.231.176.72), a Swiss bank may not accept deposits from a Russian national once their total exceeds CHF 100,000, and may not provide Russian nationals with crypto-asset services, payment instruments such as cards, or e-money. These restrictions do not apply to Russian nationals who also hold Swiss, EEA or UK citizenship or a temporary or permanent residence permit in Switzerland, the EEA or the UK.

Fees

Per the fees page: the account is free (1 EUR/month for holders of fewer than 5 DUK+ tokens; zero-balance accounts are exempt). Incoming third-party transfers are free up to 50,000 CHF, then 25 CHF (50–150k) and 50 CHF (>150k); on top of that, "complex" sources above 50,000 CHF — dividends, real-estate sale proceeds, crypto — attract +0.5% (min 250 CHF; the 5,000 CHF cap applies only with the bank's prior approval). Outgoing: SEPA 2.3 EUR, non-SEPA 20 EUR, USD 19/35; transfers to crypto exchanges min 25 CHF or 0.5%. FX is interbank +0.5% spread plus a volume fee of 0–1%. Quarterly incoming limits scale with KYC depth. The tail fees are material: a dormancy fee of at least 500 CHF (capped at the account balance) plus 50 CHF a month until contact is restored or the account is closed, and 150 CHF for an account statement.

Compliance context and reputation

Trustpilot reviews repeatedly complain about account freezes and manual review of payments; large incoming transfers without documented origin routinely get stuck in compliance — which is consistent with the bank's own model of quarterly incoming limits tied to KYC depth and its surcharge on "complex" sources. Source-of-funds documentation is best prepared before any substantial transfer.

Two further reputational notes. First, the bank actively cross-sells CFD trading — its own risk warning puts the share of retail CFD accounts that lose money at about 75%. Second, the ICO-launched Dukascoin is an oddity for a conservative Swiss balance sheet. Neither is a regulatory problem — no public FINMA enforcement is on record — but both signal a marketing-driven institution.

Who it suits

Dukascopy suits clients who want a genuine Swiss bank account opened remotely, with legal crypto buy/sell/custody inside one perimeter and modest balances — and Russian-speaking residents of jurisdictions outside the restricted list, given the full Russian interface; for Russian nationals, the Swiss sanctions limits described above apply. It does not suit residents of Russia, Belarus or the US (not accepted), anyone planning large undocumented inflows (compliance friction plus the 0.5% complex-source surcharge), or investors seeking cheap brokerage (1% per trade, 1.5% p.a.). For institutional-grade crypto custody, AMINA Bank or the desks on the OTC page are the more natural fit.