What Bity is
Founded in 2014 in Neuchâtel by Alexis Roussel and Yves Honoré, Bity is a Swiss cryptocurrency brokerage company: for years, through bity.com, it allowed individuals and companies to buy, sell and exchange crypto against fiat currencies (and vice versa), with a historic positioning attentive to privacy and the culture of decentralisation. Today it operates as a "private trade desk": it manually executes transactions above 100,000 Swiss francs on instructions sent by email by verified clients, without a self-service trading platform; it also offers Bity Gold, tokenised physical gold (Verified: October 2026). It is a small operation by industry standards (around fifteen employees) and not an exchange with an order book. In 2024 it went through a corporate transition: co-founder and public face Alexis Roussel departed and leadership passed to Melissa Song, with a repositioning decided by the board of directors. (Verified: September 2026)
Regulation and licences
- MiCA: NO — and not through any failing: Switzerland is outside the EU and therefore outside the MiCA perimeter. Bity is registered as a financial intermediary under the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) and is affiliated with SO-FIT, a self-regulatory organisation recognised by FINMA. (Verified: October 2026)
- The point is a concrete one: since 01/07/2026 crypto services in the EU require a MiCA-authorised CASP. A Swiss provider such as Bity does not appear in the ESMA register of CASPs and falls under the third-country regime: operating towards EU clients is possible only within narrow limits (at the client's own initiative, without active solicitation). Anyone looking for an operator with MiCA protections must look elsewhere; in any case, Bity today only accepts transactions above 100,000 Swiss francs. (Verified: October 2026)
Security
A broker model, not a custodial exchange with an order book: exposure of customer funds is limited to the duration of transactions. There are no known breaches of customer funds in the company's history. (Verified: September 2026)
Headquarters and contacts
- On its official website (October 2026) Bity gives the address Rue des Usines 44, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland; for support, support@bity.com.
- Official website: https://bity.com/
Alternatives
- SwissBorg — another operation of Swiss origin, a crypto investment app
- Kraken — for those who want an exchange with a full MiCA licence
- Bitstamp — a European veteran with a MiCA licence via Luxembourg
FAQ
- Is Bity regulated? Yes, but in Switzerland: it operates as a financial intermediary under Swiss anti-money-laundering law. It does not have (nor can it have, being outside the EU) a MiCA licence: the protections of the European regime do not apply to its clients.
- Who leads Bity today? Melissa Song, CEO since 2024, with experience in traditional finance (Bloomberg Hong Kong) and at Gold DAO. Co-founder Alexis Roussel left in spring 2024; the other co-founder Yves Honoré remained with the company.
- Is Bity an exchange? No. Today Bity is a private trading desk: it offers neither a self-service platform nor an order book, but executes purchases and sales above 100,000 Swiss francs on client instructions sent by email, with fees agreed transaction by transaction. It is not a service designed for small amounts.
Verified sources
- https://www.bilan.ch/story/blockchain-loperateur-crypto-neuchatelois-bity-se-repositionne-
- https://tracxn.com/d/companies/bity/__IlJ9wW9RsxJuUxFwezswAjEtvcil_L5fjkErLMc1qaU
- https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/bity
- https://bity.com/en/broker
- https://help.bity.com/en/articles/13560838-how-do-i-submit-a-trade-instruction
- https://help.bity.com/en/articles/11163883-is-bity-regulated
- https://help.bity.com/en/articles/1505681-what-services-does-bity-offer
- https://help.bity.com/en/articles/1505724-what-are-your-bity-fees
