My SwissBorg review: The best crypto app? | €3,000 invested
Among the many crypto exchanges, SwissBorg really stands out: with full EU regulation, extremely favourable terms and more than nine years’ experience in crypto trading, it leaves many of its competitors in the dust.
The successful crypto app is now becoming increasingly popular in Germany too. For this Northern Finance review, I put the service through its paces and invested €3,000.
In brief:
- The Swiss platform SwissBorg has been offering cryptocurrency trading and investment services since 2017
- The company is licensed in France and Estonia and is regulated by the financial supervisory authorities in those countries
- When comparing regulated crypto exchanges, SwissBorg offers the most favourable terms
- An in-house cryptocurrency, $BORG, allows users to reduce trading costs by up to 99% and maximise their passive income
My SwissBorg review: Key information at a glance
It’s no secret that cryptocurrencies play a significant role in my portfolio. They generate the highest returns (but also carry higher risks) and complement the various P2P platforms and ETFs perfectly.
In my investments in cryptocurrencies so far, I’ve had the same experience as almost every other investor: the quality, security and costs of crypto exchanges vary enormously!
Swissborg is a welcome exception here:
- The company is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, which entails stricter financial regulations
- Over 900,000 investors are already using Swissborg for crypto trading
- The company has recently obtained a MiCA licence and is therefore a fully regulated crypto-financial services provider supervised by the financial supervisory authorities in France
- As well as buying and selling cryptocurrencies directly, you can also make use of ready-made portfolios, staking, savings plans and many other features
- Through its proprietary cryptocurrency, $BORG, the company offers exciting benefits and investment opportunities
The most significant advantages SwissBorg offers are undoubtedly security and favourable terms. In my experience, it’s hard to find a fully licensed provider with high transparency and low trading costs these days!
| Foundation | 2017 |
| Company headquarters: | Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Management: | CEO Cyrus Fazel (co-founder) |
| Assets under management: | USD 1.07 billion |
| Regulated: | MiCA-regulated (“Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets”) |
| User: | 912.000 |
| Products: | Over 350 tradable cryptocurrencies, plus a range of extras such as managed portfolios and savings plans |
| Fees: | 0.1% of the transaction value |
| Bonus programmes: | Silver status and up to €50 in Bitcoin with the referral code “NorthernFinance” |
Who is behind SwissBorg?
The SwissBorg team has been active since 2017 and therefore has extensive experience in the crypto market, customer support and compliance. An ICO in 2018 raised $52 million for the company’s own cryptocurrency, $BORG – making it the tenth-largest initial coin offering in the world to date!
- Since then, the company has grown from an initial staff of nine to over 250 today.
- The company also made huge strides in terms of market capitalisation: in 2022, it reached the magic USD 1 billion mark.
- SwissBorg has been licensed by the Estonian financial authorities to issue digital currencies since 2020.
- In 2026, the MiCA licence was introduced in France, regulating (crypto) financial instruments, trading venues and more.
This is where SwissBorg really shines, in an area where even major crypto exchanges often fall short: a lack of regulation is not just an abstract security risk – authorities can shut down such non-compliant providers at any time, and the consequences for users are enormous!
Costs and fees: The SwissBorg crypto app is great value!
A wide selection of coins or extras such as savings plans is no longer a unique selling point among crypto apps these days. Instead, the biggest differences lie in the fees charged for trading cryptocurrencies! In this respect, SwissBorg compares very favourably with the competition.
If we look at the major exchanges licensed in Europe (MiCA), SwissBorg actually offers the lowest fees:
| SwissBorg | Bison | Coinbase | Kraken | bitpanda | |
| Cryptocurrencies | 350 | 50 | 260 | 300 | 600 |
| Costs include Spread | 0,99 % | 1,25 % | 1,99 % | 1,5 – 1,65 % | 1,49 – 2,74 % |
| Wallet Transfer | 0,1 % | 0 % | 0,1 % | 0 % | 0,1 % |
| Total cost | 1,09 % | 1,25 % | 2,09 % | 1,5 – 1,65 % | 1,59 – 2,84 % |
At just 1.09% per trade (including the spread and transfers to and from your wallet), we’re 0.16% cheaper than the cheapest competitor. It’s not just active traders who appreciate this price difference!
How does SwissBorg manage to undercut its competitors so significantly? The company describes itself as a “meta-exchange” (MEX). In plain terms, this means that rather than processing transactions centrally itself, it utilises the most favourable rates available from other crypto exchanges and the Solana and Avalanche exchange networks.
My experience so far shows that this approach works perfectly: I invested €3,000 in Bitcoin and sold it again shortly afterwards to put the app through its paces. In fact, only €3.02 in fees was charged for the sale of BTC worth €2,830.
The exchange routes can sometimes be quite convoluted: for example, if I try to exchange euros for Avalanche, my money is first converted into USDC via the “Bullish” exchange and then into Avalanche via the Uniswap network. It sounds complicated, but it ensures excellent rates!
Particularly good value thanks to cashback
At the heart of SwissBorg lies its proprietary cryptocurrency, $BORG. However, this is not just another coin designed for price speculation! You can convert the currency directly into useful rewards.
You can “lock” (set aside) the $BORG in your possession to increase your loyalty level. Each rank comes with additional bonuses:
- Cashback: You get a portion of the fees paid back immediately with every transaction
- Returns: If you engage in staking and lending, your returns will increase dramatically
- Alpha-Vaults: You gain access to new crypto projects
- Voting rights: $BORG investors can vote on the future of the system
- Ecosystem rewards: The top 1,000 investors will receive additional gifts via airdrop
The best part is: if you use the referral code “NorthernFinance”, you’ll instantly be awarded Silver status! This entitles you to up to 30% cashback and allows you to increase your staking rewards by 1.5 times.
If you already have some experience in the crypto space, such promises will no doubt sound familiar to you. Many similar schemes have been launched in the past and have, for the most part, failed spectacularly (95% of all new coins fail).
However, $BORG has already successfully navigated the critical launch phase. The price has settled at a solid $0.20, the market capitalisation is healthy at over $180 million, and trading volume is usually twice that amount. Demand is therefore substantial! This means $BORG is performing well among DeFi coins.
Products: These products are available from SwissBorg
SwissBorg has more to offer than just the 350 or so cryptocurrencies that you can buy directly via the platform, store in your wallet and sell again! Its extensive range of products also includes:
- Savings plans: Invest in a cryptocurrency regularly and at the times that suit you. By making repeated purchases, you’ll sometimes buy at higher prices and sometimes at lower ones. Over the long term, this results in a very good average price. The concept has already proven its worth with ETF savings plans and share savings plans, and it works brilliantly with cryptocurrencies too!
- SwissBorg Card: A debit card that allows you to pay at any Mastercard-accepting outlet. You can select a cryptocurrency from your wallet to use for payment (with other coins as a backup). You receive $BORG as cashback with every transaction.
- Limit and stop orders: In my experience, one of the biggest drawbacks of typical crypto exchanges is the lack of order types. With SwissBorg, you can finally use limit orders (execution at a specified price or better) and stop orders (execution when a specified price is reached) for crypto trading.
- Crypto bundles: These are collections of various cryptocurrencies (and in some cases real assets such as gold) designed to achieve optimal diversification. The bundles currently available allow investors to capitalise on various trends and may therefore be of interest to many investors.
Within the investment bundles, your capital is reallocated as needed to ensure a good balance. Annual fees are charged for this, which in some cases can amount to as much as 0.4%. You should therefore read the small print carefully before investing.
- Staking and lending: Of course, you can also put your coins to work for you at SwissBorg. Through staking and lending, you can build up a passive income and, with some currencies, even engage in yield farming. USDC Upshift also offers a highly sought-after crypto investment that generates ‘real’ (non-digital) returns on the financial markets.
The higher your loyalty level (the amount of $BORG you own and have ‘locked up’), the greater your potential earnings. By using the referral code “NorthernFinance”, you can reach Silver status straight away and secure some attractive bonuses!
- Managed Portfolio: An automated crypto portfolio that adapts to market trends. At present, there is only one portfolio available, which is specifically aimed at risk-tolerant investors. Your money is invested here under the guidance of “experts”, who, unfortunately, are not introduced in any detail.
Sign up with SwissBorg
If my experiences with SwissBorg have sparked your interest, it’s time to sign up. It only takes a few minutes to get started, and you can start buying your first coins straight away. Everything is managed via the crypto app, which is at the heart of SwissBorg. You will need:
- A smartphone with a camera and internet connection
- A valid mobile phone number
- A form of identification (identity card, passport, residence permit)
- First, you need to download the SwissBorg app
- You can then start the registration process in the app by tapping ‘Register’.
First, you’ll need to enter your mobile number. The “Referral link” field allows you to use the code “NorthernFinance” to instantly receive Silver status and up to €50 in Bitcoin.
- Now you need to verify your mobile number. You can do this via text message or WhatsApp. To complete the registration, you’ll then need to answer a few questions. However, these are just simple details about yourself and your income – not the complicated questionnaires you find with some P2P lending platforms.
4. Your account is now registered – in my experience, the whole process takes less than five minutes. All that’s left now is identity verification. After all, a regulated provider like SwissBorg must, of course, ensure that you really are who you say you are.
SwissBorg uses the well-known service provider Onfido for this. Here, you can upload your ID document and a selfie. The whole process is automated, with no need to contact a member of staff.
An overview of the pros and cons of SwissBorg
At first glance, SwissBorg makes a very good impression. However, I have put the platform through its paces and compared it with my experiences with its competitors. In doing so, I have identified the following pros and cons:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Currently probably the cheapest (regulated) crypto exchange; extensive range of coins and extras A trading venue licensed under MiCA, licensed to issue cryptocurrencies A well-developed, user-friendly app A large user base and over eight years’ experience in the crypto sector | Managed Portfolio: Suitable only for bullish markets. The “experts” who monitor the portfolio, as well as their qualifications, are not named or introduced. To receive cashback bonuses, you must invest in $BORG and accept the associated risks You can achieve significantly higher returns if you stake the coins yourself or make them available for lending |
Based on my personal experience, I consider SwissBorg to be an excellent platform for crypto investors. The low fees are certainly a key reason for this. Only very active traders who use complex setups for their trading activities, as well as those who cannot afford to take on the risk associated with cryptocurrencies, are likely to find this platform unsuitable.
Conclusion: SwissBorg is arguably the cheapest and best crypto app in Germany
SwissBorg has been virtually unknown on the German market until now, but that is changing very quickly. No wonder: the crypto app offers full EU regulation, very favourable terms and a wide range of coins and useful extras.
My experience so far has been extremely positive: I’ve invested around €3,000 in BTC and actually paid just over 1% in fees! That’s because SwissBorg describes itself as a ‘meta-exchange’ and searches for the best price across other networks and exchanges. Other providers could certainly learn a thing or two from them.
SwissBorg is particularly interesting thanks to its own cryptocurrency, $BORG. By collecting these coins, users can reach loyalty tiers and receive lucrative bonuses: this allows trading fees to be reduced by up to 99% and even doubles returns from staking and lending!
Thanks to regulation and years of experience (SwissBorg has been operating since 2017), the company is a reliable choice in a risky market. The usual risks associated with crypto investments remain, of course, but at least you don’t need to worry too much about the reliability of your crypto app here.
If you sign up now using the code “NorthernFinance”, SwissBorg will immediately award you Silver loyalty status. This qualifies you for up to 30% cashback and 1.5x staking bonuses! Plus, up to €50 in BTC is waiting for you.
FAQ – Frequently asked questions
