Swiss Banking Giant UBS Considers Launching Crypto Trading for Wealth Management Clients
The world's largest wealth manager, UBS, is considering offering Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services to its exclusive private banking clientele, marking a significant expansion into cryptocurrency markets.
UBS, the global wealth management leader, is reportedly considering introducing cryptocurrency trading capabilities for its most affluent customers.
According to a Bloomberg report published Friday that cited an individual with knowledge of the situation, the Switzerland-based banking powerhouse intends to initially provide select private banking customers in Switzerland access to trade Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), potentially expanding the service to clients in the Asia‑Pacific markets and the United States at a later stage.
The source additionally indicated that UBS is in the process of choosing partners for its cryptocurrency service offering, though the financial institution has not made any official public statements confirming these details.
UBS is already conducting tokenization pilot programs including the uMINT tokenized US dollar money market fund on Ethereum and a Swift-UBS-Chainlink tokenized fund settlement trial, testing the integration of conventional fund products onto blockchain infrastructure even prior to evaluating the launch of spot cryptocurrency trading services.
UBS has additionally expanded its blockchain initiatives in the payments sector, partnering with Ant International to test tokenized deposits for real-time cross-border treasury flows utilizing its UBS Digital Cash platform in Singapore.
The pilot program is designed to enable Ant to transfer liquidity throughout its Alipay+ ecosystem in a matter of minutes rather than days by placing bank deposit claims on permissioned ledgers, establishing tokenized bank money as a viable alternative to traditional, cutoff‑bound correspondent banking infrastructure.
Wall Street's last holdouts follow suit
The Swiss financial institution would be joining US banking powerhouse JPMorgan, which is evaluating crypto trading for institutional clients and already operates its JPM Coin system for onchain wholesale payments and collateral, and asset management giants BlackRock and Fidelity, which have emerged as prominent issuers of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs.
Vanguard, historically among Wall Street's most outspoken cryptocurrency skeptics, essentially became one of the final major holdouts to capitulate when it reversed its hardline position in December 2025 and permitted clients to trade crypto ETFs on its platform.
UBS managed approximately $4.7 trillion in wealth assets as of September 2025. Should it proceed with cryptocurrency trading, the bank would establish a new, in‑house on‑ramp for ultra‑high‑net‑worth portfolios.
Cointelegraph contacted UBS for comment regarding the reported private banking crypto trading plans, but had not received a response by publication.