Blockstream launches institutional consulting arm and opens Lugano office

24 Oct 2026

24 Oct 2026, 05:21 UTC+02:00

Blockstream wants to be the engineering partner banks call when they build on Bitcoin. The company, led by Adam Back, launched a consulting business for financial institutions and opened an office in Lugano, Switzerland.

What the business offers

Blockstream Consulting Services will help banks, asset managers and other institutions evaluate, design and implement Bitcoin based financial infrastructure, according to Bitcoin Magazine. Planned work includes tokenized asset issuance, confidential settlement and related systems, with services spanning technical strategy, architecture, integration and implementation. Multidisciplinary teams will give clients access to Blockstream’s engineers from evaluation through deployment.

“The next phase of Bitcoin adoption is its integration into existing financial systems,” Back said. “Our extensive experience in Bitcoin cryptography, protocol development and engineering gives Blockstream the technical expertise to address the complexities.”

Why Lugano

From Lugano, Blockstream plans to serve clients in Zurich, Geneva and Zug, and the office will act as a hub for European operations. “Switzerland is an important market for Blockstream given its longstanding banking tradition and supportive regulatory framework for digital assets,” said chief marketing officer Peter Bain. Lugano has courted Bitcoin businesses for years, and Swiss rules allow banks to hold and trade bitcoin for clients. No pricing, headcount or named clients were disclosed.

Blockstream’s toolkit

Founded in 2014, Blockstream builds the Liquid Network sidechain, Elements, the Simplicity smart contract language, Core Lightning, the Jade hardware wallet and the Blockstream App. This year it launched Simplicity smart contracts on Liquid and added Lightning support to Jade. The consulting push comes as rivals race to sell tokenization infrastructure to banks, mostly on Ethereum and Solana.

What it means for traders

• Institutional rails are being built: more bank infrastructure on Bitcoin could support long term demand.
• Swiss access is growing: Switzerland is also preparing its first retail spot bitcoin ETF.
• Buy bitcoin cheaply: compare spot fees in our crypto exchange fee index and our exchange comparison.

Sources

• Bitcoin Magazine: Blockstream Launches Institutional Consulting Services, Opens Lugano Office

News is for information only and is not financial advice. More crypto news