UBS CEO targets direct crypto access and 'fast follower' tokenization push amid strong 2025 results

UBS Group AG is charting a measured path toward offering its private banking clients direct access to cryptocurrency markets. The major wealth manager confirmed the exploratory move on its Wednesday earnings call, framing it as part of a broader, multi-year strategy to build a tokenized asset infrastructure.

The confirmation follows a Bloomberg report in early January, stating the bank had been selecting partners for a potential crypto trading offering. 

“We are building out the core infrastructure and exploring targeted offerings from crypto access for individual clients to tokenized deposit solutions for corporates,” Ermotti said during the call.

Ermotti said UBS is developing infrastructure and specific use cases rather than positioning itself as an early mover in blockchain adoption. He described the bank’s role in tokenized assets as a “fast follower,” with rollout plans spanning three to five years and designed to sit alongside existing wealth management and corporate banking services.

The development coincides with a period of significant capital growth for the firm. According to its FY25 financial report, UBS recorded a 53% increase in full-year net profit to $7.8 billion. For the quarter ending Dec. 31, net profit rose 56% year-over-year to $1.2 billion. The bank's invested assets climbed 15% year-over-year, surpassing the $7 trillion threshold for the first time in its history.

A shift from skepticism to selective engagement

UBS’s current positioning contrasts with its earlier public skepticism toward cryptocurrencies. In 2017, senior officials including the bank’s global chief economist Paul Donovan criticized bitcoin and questioned its function as money and store of value. The bank subsequently focused its digital-asset work on tokenization and blockchain-based infrastructure rather than spot crypto trading.

That approach has included a tokenized money market fund on Ethereum and blockchain pilots for fund issuance and settlement. UBS said the tokenized fund gives investors access to “high-quality money market instruments based on a conservative, risk-managed framework.” 

The bank also permitted select wealthy clients in Hong Kong in 2023 to trade crypto futures-based exchange-traded funds, providing exposure without direct ownership of digital assets.

Other institutions are advancing similar, infrastructure-focused plans. Earlier this year, Barclays purchased a stake in stablecoin settlement startup Ubyx to explore regulated “tokenized money.” This followed Barclays' participation in a 10-bank consortium formed in October 2024 to explore a joint stablecoin. The British bank had previously moved to restrict retail crypto purchases via credit cards.

In recent months, Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered have also outlined plans to expand crypto trading and prime brokerage services for institutional and high-net-worth clients.