Excursions to the crypto country: ZKB gives countermeasures

The Zurich cantonal bank got into business with Bitcoin and Ethereum relatively late. The reason for this was also that ZKB customers had demonstrably deducted a three-digit million contribution to crypto brokers and exchanges. The ZKB's own offering is particularly well received in private banking.

Last autumn started Zurich Cantonal Bank (ZKB) Your offer for trading and custody of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Since then, the largest state bank in Switzerland has been taking a first balance sheet.

How Peter HubliHead of Digital Assets at ZKB, revealed on a panel in Lugano, customers had previously transferred around CHF 600 million to crypto exchanges. Excursions to brokers or fintechs have not yet been taken into account – the effective amount should therefore be significantly higher. We are talking about around one billion.

Missed earnings potential

In relation to the customer assets of a total of CHF 520 billion (at the end of 2024) a “Quantité Négligeable”. But nevertheless: In view of an average trading fee of 1 percent, the bank could have achieved income in the two to three-digit million range in the crypto segment, argumented The “Crypto Valley Journal” with a view to the appearance of the ZKB man.

In contrast to popular expectations, a significant part of the crypto customer does not come from the retail area, but from private banking. The average order size of CHF 15,000 and the customer age between 30 and 50 may also be surprising.

Bitcoin dominates the demand

The focus of the customers is clearly on Bitcoin: the cryptocurrency made up around 88 percent of the commercial volume, while Ethereum only came to 12 percent.

Pleasing for the ZKB: Around 40 percent of crypto customers had no advertising depot at the bank before.

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