Bitcoin Suisse Cuts Half Its Zug Staff, Moves Jobs Abroad

Bitcoin Suisse is cutting jobs in Switzerland. The company will move up to half the positions at its Zug headquarters abroad.

What happened

Bitcoin Suisse, one of the country's oldest crypto brokers, plans to relocate up to 60 positions from Zug to Bratislava or Vietnam. Back-office roles will take the biggest hit: accounting, reporting, administrative client support. The company informed staff at a town hall meeting on Friday morning.

The exact number of cuts will be set after a 10-day consultation with employees. Swiss labor law requires this format for mass layoffs. The first job losses will take effect before year's end. Bitcoin Suisse told the business outlet Finews about the plan.

Bratislava already hosts back offices for other Western financial firms, so the choice makes sense. In Vietnam, Bitcoin Suisse is only planning to open a new office in the coming years, and for now that's more of a strategic intent than a finished plan. Both locations share one thing: salaries well below Swiss levels, which the company names as its main argument.

Why the company is shifting course

Bitcoin Suisse was founded in 2013. It became one of the symbols of Switzerland's Crypto Valley in the canton of Zug, where dozens of blockchain projects and foundations have settled over the past decade. The firm started out trading and custodying Bitcoin. It later added staking and lending, including through Ethereum.

Now the plans look different. Bitcoin Suisse wants to serve wealthy private clients, family offices and institutional investors, not just in crypto. The company aims to become a full wealth manager with services that reach far beyond digital assets: classic investments, asset custody, advisory for family offices.

This pivot isn't unique. After several years of a weak crypto market, many brokers are looking for extra revenue streams so they don't rely solely on trading fees. Wealth management income is steadier and less tied to market mood.

Andrej Majcen, group CEO and co-founder, explained the shift briefly. It's a big statement from a company that has been tied to Switzerland alone for over a decade.

"In the past, our focus was primarily on Switzerland. Now, international growth is our priority."

- Andrej Majcen, Group CEO and co-founder of Bitcoin Suisse, in an interview with Finews

Who feels the change most

Accounting, compliance and administrative support in the back office will feel the changes most. The headquarters and part of the leadership team will stay in Zug. The Bitcoin Suisse name isn't going anywhere, and the company promises to keep a full presence in Switzerland.

Majcen says the decision isn't tied to the crypto downturn. The firm claims it has enough of a cushion to weather a slump without cutting staff. The back-office relocation is explained purely by cost savings. The same functions cost noticeably less in Bratislava or Vietnam than in one of Switzerland's priciest cantons, where both office rent and salaries traditionally run above the European average. A strong Swiss franc has only widened that gap in recent years.

For employees whose roles are moving, the company promises support throughout the transition period. How many people will actually lose their jobs in Zug, and how many get an offer to relocate or switch roles, should become clear within a couple of weeks. For Switzerland's crypto industry, this is fairly notable news, since Bitcoin Suisse has long been seen as one of the sector's steadiest employers.

Regulatory groundwork is already underway

Alongside the layoffs, Bitcoin Suisse has been collecting licenses to operate outside Switzerland. Over the past year the company secured several approvals across different jurisdictions, each covering a separate region of the world.

• A MiCAR license in Liechtenstein grants access to the EU's single financial services market without a separate permit in every country.
• Digital-asset and investment licenses came through in Bermuda, a convenient base for serving institutional clients from the US.
• Full regulatory approval in Abu Dhabi arrived this summer, opening access to wealthy clients in the Gulf.

This set of licenses fits international wealth management, not ordinary crypto trading. The company is building the infrastructure ahead of time, before the back office actually relocates. It's a typical approach for financial groups entering new markets gradually rather than all at once.

What comes next

Bitcoin Suisse remains open to acquisitions in Switzerland. That means consolidation among local crypto custodians could speed up in the coming years. At the same time, competition among crypto brokers and crypto exchanges for institutional clients keeps growing, and margins on plain crypto trading keep shrinking.

The company is betting on global wealth management, not crypto alone. If the strategy works, other Swiss crypto firms feeling the same cost pressure on their Zug-based teams could follow. High Swiss labor costs used to be offset by reputation and client trust, but now even major players are looking for ways to cut spending.

For everyday users, Bitcoin Suisse's move is more of a signal about where the industry is heading. Large custodial platforms are increasingly turning into financial advisors for wealthy clients rather than just places to buy and sell coins. The coming weeks will show how quickly Bitcoin Suisse actually delivers on this plan.