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Crypto Onboarding at Swiss/Liechtenstein Private Banks – How Far Back Do They Check?

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J

Jigam

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Dec 16, 2020
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For those with experience onboarding to crypto friendly private banks (especially in Switzerland or Liechtenstein)””
Suppose someone has built up a substantial crypto position through purely on-chain activity (DeFi wallet trades, NFT flips, meme coin cycles, etc.), without using KYC'd exchanges or on/off-ramps. They're now looking to move into formal private banking channels.

Their situation:

Ӣ Currently a UAE resident

Ӣ Holds a passport from a different country

Ӣ Some of the on-chain trades happened before they became a UAE resident



Question: Do these banks typically ask where the person was tax-resident or physically located at the time those trades occurred? Or is it generally enough to:

Ӣ Provide a full wallet audit or on-chain overview

Ӣ Confirm current UAE residency

In short, how deeply do Swiss/Liechtenstein banks investigate past residency? Do they demand documented proof of prior residency, or do they mainly care about your current residency status and an on-chain audit trail?
 
Depends. With UAE residency they will probably ask more than for example if you are‌ a EU resident. Usually it's the first transfer from fiat to crypto exchange (or proof‍ where your crypto came from), then trading acc/onchain activity screenshots/trades, then probably tax declarations. Can⁠ be partially to cover the deposited amount. Now they also ask for wallet addresses.

To keep things simple you have to have clean history of the fund movements. Once you're⁤ in it gets easier.

PS. VERY recommended to have other sources of income besides crypto⁣
 
Wouldn't it be possible to simply create a new wallet, move crypto into it based‌ on an invoice you send to a company for a service, and have them pay‍ that invoice in crypto to the wallet? Then wait a bit and show everything to⁠ the bank?
 
Has been frequently recommended here. I would expect⁤ it to worry for household numbers. If you come with 5M, it may not work⁣ that well or lead to further questions.

In this case, the bank may be interested⁢ in seeing the initial investment. If you can prove 50k in 2011 into bitcoin, it︀ would be evident where wealth comes from.

Banks normally don't check taxation years back. Also︁ note that many counties only keep records for a set period, often 10 years.
 
Compliance requirements change regularly. I would reach⁠ out to your target bank and ask them directly. There is NO one size fits⁤ all compliance procedure.

Ask i.e Amina Bank directly. They have office in UAE so your⁣ clearly resident in one of their target markets.

https://aminagroup.com/contact/
 
Are they a worldwide operating bank or more‌ Swiss based with office in UAE and Hong Kong ?
 
I will tell you about my︄ personal experience, where communication with crypto banks was exclusively about funds from cryptocurrency activity:
all they were interested in was the legality of receiving crypto or buying crypto using legal︅ sources of money, without gray and black zone (this is a greeting and good luck︆ to those who say that you can make an invoice for a fresh no-name company︇ for several million, transfer crypto to a new empty wallet and deceive banking compliance in︈ Switzerland or Liechtenstein).
Plus to this, more or less standard KYC with information about current︉ residence, business, etc.

They absolutely did not care about taxes for past years, residence of︊ past years and things that went beyond crypto activity.

although I can assume that if︋ crypto activity was strongly connected with regular entry and exit into fiat: p2p, a lot︌ of paper cash, potential operations that could require a license for actions and other things︍ that could lead to serious legal consequences such as: non-payment of taxes, doing business without︎ proper registration or license, then banks may well ask for such information.
 
It's bank depending and without names︆ of the banks you have tried this makes not much sense.
 
How did the bank verify your︆ crypto activity? Did they require you to get a third-party audit, or did they perform︇ their own internal investigation into your wallets? Did they make you explain each and every︈ transaction?
 
CEX activity verified⁠ by trading logs or/and read only access to the trading account.

On chain operations are⁤ visible as is, only need to proof wallet ownership by signing a message with them⁣ or providing screenshots.

I'm pretty sure they are use 3rd party analyzing tools to verify⁢ wallets. But that's all on their side.

I've never been asked to explain every transaction.︀
 
I still don't understand peoples fascination with Switzerland for banking in 2025. So many Swiss‌ banks have vanished or merged in Switzerland. Even UBS had to be bailed out by‍ Swiss government during 2009 financial crisis and CS had to take money from Qatar to⁠ survive the crisis rather then be bailed out. Ultimately CS did not survive.

I have⁤ seen 3 Swiss banks I used go belly up i.e Hottinger & Cie, Frey and⁣ CS and that's more then any other jurisdiction I have used before.
 
What matters is the original source︄ of funds I mean NFT's and Meme Coin Cycles needs to be financed somehow with︅ funds invested at some point in the Crypto Market - this sounds rather like you︆ have potentially a non-KYC Crypto entry point you don't want to disclose which is understandable︇ but a Bank always wants to see at what point you entered the Crypto Market.︈

As an example if you have Crypto Mining as Source of Funds a proper Switzerland︉ Bank is asking for invoices of Mining Equipment and the Source of Funds to purchase︊ the Mining Equipment etc.

If you don't have this in place our service might be︋ interesting for you - we give you everything on hand you require to Cash Out︌ Crypto to Fiat and to build a source of funds over time.

If you have︍ this in place you don't necessarily go with a Private Bank in Switzerland charging you︎ a lot of fees you can stick to Switzerland Bank which does understand Crypto as️ Source of Funds and is general speaking Crypto Friendly like Swissquote in Switzerland or Delubac‌ in Switzerland.
 
come on, we are talking about crypto and things that was years and⁣ years ago.
Blockchain itself, ability to sign own wallet, mining pools logs etc - its⁢ bulletproof evidence of true SOW/SOF for crypto.

When banks are ignore blockchain proofs, but asks︀ for papers that can be photoshopped in minutes and because of obvious obsoleteness of them︁ can't be verified - that mostly means that particular banks are not very familiar with︂ crypto and it's a better to skip them at all.
 
Absolutely correct and as the OP mentions Private Banks in Switzerland their are many just smelling⁢ the money of Crypto Investors - in my personal experience Crypto Friendly Banks not so︀ flashy about like Swissquote or Delubac are better working compared to Private Banks offering Crypto︁ Services like Arab Bank Switzerland or Kaiser Privatbank in Liechtenstein.
 
Excuse my lack of knowledge,‌ no idea and never tried it (only worked with Bendura in LI, which is a‍ pretty fine bank), but what is the reason to avoid Kaiser?
 
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