The bank is building infrastructure to support digital asset offerings
UBS is preparing a gradual expansion into crypto trading and tokenized financial services, as the bank builds core infrastructure to support digital assets and blockchain-based products.
Chief executive Sergio Ermotti confirmed that UBS is developing systems to support crypto access for individual clients as well as tokenized deposit solutions for corporate customers.
The bank plans to prioritize infrastructure and targeted use cases before scaling its digital asset activities over a three-to-five-year timeframe.
The move represents a shift from UBS’s earlier stance on cryptocurrencies. In previous years, senior executives expressed skepticism about the role of assets such as Bitcoin, questioning their function as money or a store of value.
As a result, UBS avoided direct crypto trading for an extended period and limited its digital asset efforts to internal blockchain experiments and research projects.
In recent years, however, the bank has steadily expanded its work on tokenization, focusing on applications that align more closely with traditional financial markets.
In 2022, UBS issued a $50 million tokenized note, marking one of its first live uses of blockchain technology for securities issuance. The bank has since continued to test tokenized structures across funds, settlement, and cash-equivalent products.
More recently, in November 2025, UBS executed a live tokenized fund transaction using Chainlink infrastructure, highlighting how blockchain technology can be applied to asset management processes. The bank has also explored tokenized money market funds on Ethereum, offering blockchain-based access to low-risk, short-term assets.
By positioning itself as a “fast follower”, UBS is aiming to adopt proven models once regulatory and operational risks are better understood, while integrating digital assets into its existing banking framework.
