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← The Crypto Livability Index

Europe · Pioneer

Switzerland

Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025

Livability rank
#29 / 79
Rails rank
#1 / 79
Need shift
▼ -28

Scoreboard

Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.

Five pillars
P1 Access16 / 16
P2 Regulation16 / 20
P3 Spending20 / 20
P4 Infrastructure8 / 12
P5 Community15 / 16
22 sub-pillars (0–4)
4
P1.1
Exchange access
not scored
P1.2
P2P liquidity
4
P1.3
ATM density
4
P1.4
On/off-ramp friction
4
P1.5
Stablecoin access
3
P2.1
Legal status
4
P2.2
Tax treatment
3
P2.3
Income legality
2
P2.4
KYC burden
4
P2.5
Regulatory trajectory
4
P3.1
Gift cards
4
P3.2
Direct merchants
4
P3.3
Crypto cards
4
P3.4
Utility bills
4
P3.5
Connectivity
4
P4.1
Internet penetration
4
P4.2
Smartphone penetration
0
P4.4
Remittance corridor
double-edged
4
P5.1
Meetups and events
4
P5.2
Crypto media
3
P5.3
Social sentiment
4
P5.4
Developer density

The number behind the rank

Raw capability score75 / 84
P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker)+0
Inflation 1.1% · unbanked 2% · remittances 0.4% GDP · capital controls 0 · sanctions 0 CNI 0.011
Need multiplier×0.516
Livability score0.461

Raw 75/84 = 0.893 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.01, from five components: inflation 1.1% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 2% of adults, remittances 0.4% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.00 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 0. Need multiplier ×0.52. Livability score 0.461, rank #29 of 79.

Three findings

The highest rails score on Earth, 75 of 84, and a perfect spending pillar

Switzerland is the only country at 20 of 20 on spending alongside a full 16 of 16 on access. It is also the only jurisdiction in the dataset with a universal crypto-to-fiat utility bridge embedded in the national invoice standard: Bitcoin Suisse Pay reads any Swiss QR-bill and settles it in BTC, ETH or stablecoins, covering all six bill categories at once. Not being in the EU, Switzerland carries a 4 on stablecoin access where EU members sit at a structural 3.

Lugano is a city where you can spend Bitcoin on a McDonald's, your taxes and your parking

The Plan B partnership has put roughly 360 to 400 merchants on crypto rails in a single city, from coffee shops to municipal services, and more than a third of residents use the MyLugano wallet. SPAR supermarkets began a nationwide direct-Bitcoin rollout in 2025. Where most of Europe counts ATMs in single digits, Switzerland runs 129 machines at 156 per million urban residents.

The number-one capability slides 28 places once need is priced in

Switzerland's Crypto-Necessity Index is 0.01, the lowest pressure imaginable: inflation 1.1%, 2% unbanked, no capital controls, no sanctions. The ×0.52 need multiplier carries it from rails #1 to livability #29. This is the index working exactly as designed: Switzerland built the best rails on the planet for a population that barely needs them.

In one line

"Switzerland proves that a country can perfect every rail crypto offers and still rank mid-table once you ask how badly its people actually need them. Capability is not necessity."

Watch in 2026

Trajectory 4/4, actively liberalising. FINMA (the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority) issued its first DLT trading-facility licence to SIX Digital Exchange in early 2025 and published a digital-asset circular in February 2025 clarifying custody and settlement. A FINIG reform consultation is running, cantons continue to compete for blockchain firms, and CARF automatic crypto data exchange enters force from 2026.

Regional neighbours
Data vintage 31 December 2025 · CLI vv1.3 · Genghis Research · CC BY 4.0