Pocket Bitcoin: bank-funded Bitcoin, self-custody and settlement

Pocket is a Bitcoin-only bank-to-wallet service. A customer creates payment instructions, sends funds from their bank and receives Bitcoin in a wallet they control. A bank standing order can repeat the process. The operating model is conversion and delivery; its ordinary purchase flow does not require maintaining a funded multi-asset trading account.[10]

Conversion normally follows receipt of the bank payment. First payments or a new bank account can need manual clearance; a missing reference or account limit can cause further delay. The relevant market price is the price when processing actually takes place, so an estimate viewed before a bank transfer is not a locked quote. This timing difference matters when the bank takes a business day to deliver the money.[12]

A one-off order is used once. A recurring order stays valid until cancelled. Reusing a completed one-off reference is therefore different from sending another payment against an active recurring instruction, even when the intended wallet is unchanged. Keep the order type with the saved payment details so later transfers use the correct instruction.[14]

A new paying bank account or receiving wallet requires a new order. Changing only the amount of a standing order does not itself replace those registered details. If a hardware wallet is replaced or a bank changes the account’s IBAN, update the order and the bank instruction together rather than assuming Pocket will infer the new destination.[15]

For a CHF1,000 standard payment, 1.5% is CHF15, leaving CHF985 to convert before a Bitcoin network deduction. This establishes the fee arithmetic, not the Bitcoin quantity: the latter depends on the execution rate. The fee FAQ describes a shared network charge where multiple same-day purchases go to the same address.[4]

These are transaction-size schedules, described as all-inclusive, rather than trailing-volume tiers. Private targets investment amounts of CHF100,000 or more and asks customers to discuss transactions above CHF2 million. Confirm the applicable quote at exact band boundaries, where the published “up to” and “plus” labels overlap.[33]

Business publishes no account-opening, monthly or custody fee. Its corporate tariff is separate from the standard personal purchase rate. Employee access, a dedicated relationship manager and a company dashboard form part of that proposition; those features do not make an unapproved company payment suitable for a personal order.[32]

The minimum-purchase FAQ states no minimum amount. Nevertheless, many small on-chain receipts create separate unspent outputs. Spending them together later may require a larger transaction and more network fees. A low purchase minimum therefore does not mean that every purchase frequency has the same eventual cost of moving Bitcoin.[16]

The inspected retail widget terms list CHF and EUR payment currencies. Choose the corresponding bank instructions; sending a different currency can introduce conversion or bank charges. Historical tutorials mentioning other currencies are not sufficient evidence of their current availability in the selected payment flow.[36]

Pocket’s payout article describes fee adjustment through replace-by-fee when congestion requires a higher transaction fee, with Pocket covering that increase. The payout email provides transaction tracking. The pages quote different evening batch times, so this profile treats them as operating guidance rather than a fixed delivery deadline. Network congestion and operational checks can still affect arrival.[13]

The Instant-payment FAQ distinguishes bank connections: it describes SEPA Instant for the UK connection and says it is unavailable for the Swiss connection. This concerns the route offered in the payment instructions, not permission for every UK resident to use Pocket. A bank’s Instant capability cannot alone establish that a particular recipient connection supports it.[19]

A missing payment message can prevent automatic matching. The help page asks for the order reference, sending IBAN and amount so support can identify the transfer, and says unmatched funds may be returned. Trace the existing payment before treating another payment as a remedy: two correctly received transfers can create two purchases.[31]

The refund FAQ lists incomplete verification, a different IBAN, reused or closed orders and business funds sent through a personal flow as reasons for return. It normally allows two to three business days for a refund. The separate Business service requires its own onboarding; its existence does not remove the personal-flow restrictions in that FAQ.[23]

The Lightning tutorial describes an additional customer action after conversion: use the payout email and approve receipt through the supported wallet. It illustrates Phoenix and Breez. The guide is dated August 2023, so current wallet support, capacity and screen instructions need checking in the live flow; the useful distinction is that a successful bank payment is not itself completion of the Lightning payout.[37]

Pocket’s privacy policy says the app creates a local encrypted wallet and the company cannot access its private keys. Bitcoin recorded in that wallet belongs to the customer. Identity information and bank-payment records are a separate data set: self-custody does not make a bank-funded purchase anonymous, and public blockchain transactions cannot be erased by an account-data request.[9]

The address FAQ describes a new address for each one-off order and a reused address for recurring payouts unless an extended public key is shared. Repeated use makes transfers easier to associate; check the actual address setting for the chosen order.[28]

However, the October 2025 verification announcement promises a fresh address for every payout. These public descriptions differ. Confirm the current recurring-order setting, especially for an external wallet; do not assume the FAQ describes every verified account.[28][5]

The Pocket app is a hot wallet: it operates on an internet-connected device. A hardware wallet keeps signing in a separate device, while a watch-only display can still show its balance. These are different security arrangements, even when they are presented in the same app. The help article encourages considering that distinction for larger holdings.[29]

The terms require independent backups and say the app cannot export secret data after creation or import. Pocket cannot recover lost keys. Verify the backup before relying on the device as the only access to Bitcoin.[3]

An announcement dated 16 October 2025 made full verification mandatory for all customers by 8 December 2025, after which only verified customers could buy or sell. Older descriptions of purchases below a no-verification threshold are therefore not a current access rule. Pocket says it performs the verification internally rather than outsourcing the identity check.[5]

The verification guide asks for an identity document, a camera-equipped device and internet access. It describes a recorded call, an email code and questions about the customer’s financial situation, with an indicative five-to-ten-minute appointment. Although that older guide is titled for larger purchases, the later all-customer verification announcement controls who now needs to complete identification.[17]

Users must be at least 18 and legally eligible. Operating companies need acceptance; holding companies, trusts and foundations are excluded by the terms. Published information is directed at Swiss residents, and access elsewhere remains subject to acceptance and local restrictions.[3]

The ordinary refund rules require the payment account to match the registered IBAN. Completing an identity check does not cure a mismatched bank account or a transfer sent against the wrong order. Resolve those details before treating the verification message as confirmation that any subsequent payment will be accepted automatically.[23]

Pocket publishes [email protected] and +41 56 508 26 61. Telephone hours are weekdays, 09:00–12:00 and 13:30–17:00, labelled Central European Time. The contact page also links Telegram. These are support hours, not an uninterrupted manual dealing commitment. A payment enquiry is easier to investigate with its order reference, amount, bank confirmation and relevant payout transaction.[34]

For an on-chain payment already dispatched, use the payout email to distinguish a pending confirmation from a missing payout. For a sale, retain both the Bitcoin transaction and the bank-payment information. This helps identify whether the outstanding step belongs to Pocket, a network or the receiving bank rather than relying on a single “completed” label.[25]

Pocket’s legal disclosure names Pocket App AG and says it belongs to VQF’s self-regulatory organisation for anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing supervision. The disclosed company identifier is CHE-449.515.715. This profile attributes membership to the company disclosure; it does not present an independently matched current member entry or invent a financial-services licence number.[2]

VQF explains that its FINMA recognition concerns supervision of members under Switzerland’s Anti-Money Laundering Act. That supervisory category is not itself a bank licence, deposit insurance or EU MiCA authorisation. The scope should be read accurately when assessing a Swiss non-custodial Bitcoin service and its cross-border availability.[38]

Pocket’s company story dates work on the service to early 2020 and its public launch to June 2021. It names David Knezic, Matthias Koller and Tobias Koller across executive, business-development and technology responsibilities. The service developed around turning a familiar bank transfer into a Bitcoin purchase delivered to an independent wallet.[8]

The October 2025 verification announcement said Pocket had served more than 50,000 customers across Switzerland and Europe. This is a dated company customer claim, not an independently measured active-trader total or current market share. It should not be compared directly with daily exchange volume or with a count of funded accounts at a custodial trading venue.[5]

Operator

Pocket App AG

Exchange model

Centralised

Service scope

Bank-funded Bitcoin buying, selling and recurring purchases; on-chain or supported Lightning delivery.

Client types

Retail clients; Institutional clients

Pricing publication

Public pricing

Other names

Pocket; Pocket App; Pocket Private; Pocket Business

Headquarters

Lupfig, Switzerland

Funding scope

CHF and EUR bank payments matched to the order and customer account.

Custody and asset handling

Customer-controlled wallets; Pocket does not hold the private keys of the app wallet.

Client eligibility

Full identity verification required; residence and business acceptance remain subject to approval.

Support

Email and telephone; published weekday hours in Central European Time.

Authorisation and registration scope

Pocket identifies VQF SRO membership for Swiss AML supervision; this does not establish a banking or EU CASP licence.

Exchange metadata checked 21 Oct 2026Source 1Source 2Source 4Source 5Source 8Source 9Source 10Source 32Source 34Source 35Source 36

A recurring purchase combines a reusable Pocket instruction with the customer’s bank standing order. The bank controls its amount, interval, pause and restart. Pocket explicitly says it cannot withdraw from the customer’s bank account. Stopping a future payment is different from reversing a conversion already processed; review both the bank schedule and the Pocket order when changing the arrangement.[21]

Private advertises data export for tax reporting and hardware-wallet integration. Its transaction dashboard records trading activity, but an export of Pocket transactions cannot reconstruct unrelated purchases, transfers or sales made elsewhere. Preserve those external records if they affect acquisition cost or the reconciliation of an overall Bitcoin holding.[33]

Business provides transaction-history and report exports for accounting, with employees using their own accounts to access company mode. The company should manage which staff can operate on its behalf and keep the accounting record separate from an employee’s personal purchases, even though both views can be reached from the same dashboard.[32]

The privacy policy allows requests to correct or erase personal data but preserves information needed for legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or dispute purposes. Deleting app data cannot remove an already recorded blockchain transaction. An account-data request should therefore specify the information concerned rather than assume that uninstalling the app erases every service record.[9]

The terms require prior written consent for third-party applications that interact with the service. The inspected developer link redirected to the contact page. A recurring bank payment does not establish a general public trading API or permission for autonomous software to trade.[3]