Safello reported an operating profit of SEK 0.8 million in the third quarter – its first profitable quarter since the fourth quarter of 2024. Revenue fell 41 percent, but costs fell by roughly the same amount, and a fee adjustment in June lifted the gross margin to 8.8 percent.
Photo: Frank Schuil, CEO of Safello.
Safello Group AB is a Swedish crypto exchange listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market, authorised as a crypto-asset service provider under MiCA. The company, founded in 2013 and operator of the platform bitcoin.se, reported losses through 2025 and much of 2026 in a market marked by lower trading volumes. Founder Frank Schuil returned as chief executive, and has since worked to cut costs and adjust the revenue model.
Net turnover in the third quarter was SEK 98.4 million, down 41 percent from SEK 165.7 million in the same quarter last year. Total operating expenses fell to SEK 7.6 million, from SEK 12.9 million a year earlier – a decrease of 41 percent. Personnel expenses fell 28 percent to SEK 3.2 million, reflecting a smaller workforce; the average number of employees during the quarter was 19, down from 33 in the same period last year.
The gross margin rose to 8.8 percent, from 8.1 percent a year earlier. The increase is attributed to the company's adjustment of its fee structure at the end of June, together with positive changes in its inventory of crypto assets. Operating profit came to SEK 0.8 million, against a loss of SEK 1.1 million in the same quarter last year, and net profit was SEK 0.7 million. Turnover also improved through the quarter, from SEK 23.4 million in July to SEK 33.1 million in August and SEK 41.9 million in September.
"This is the first profitable quarter since my return as CEO," writes Frank Schuil, founder and chief executive of Safello, in the press release. "We worked on both costs and revenue: total operating expenses were SEK 7.6 million, compared with SEK 12.9 million a year ago, and the adjustment of our fee structure at the end of June lifted the gross margin to 8.8 percent. One profitable quarter is a data point. Three in a row is a business, and that is the bar we are setting for ourselves."
For the first nine months of 2026, the picture remained negative. Net turnover fell 33 percent to SEK 326.4 million, while gross profit fell 45 percent to SEK 19.3 million. EBITDA for the period was minus SEK 11.5 million, against minus SEK 4.2 million last year, partly due to a realised loss of SEK 2.2 million on the sale of the company's long-term TAO holding. Operating profit for the nine months came to minus SEK 9.8 million, and net profit to minus SEK 9.9 million.
Cash holdings at the end of the quarter were SEK 12.3 million, down from SEK 17.3 million at the start of the year. The book value of long-term crypto assets was SEK 0.4 million, against SEK 9.0 million a year earlier, following the sale of the TAO holding in the second quarter. Equity nonetheless rose to SEK 17.2 million by the end of the quarter, from SEK 16.5 million at the end of June – the first time since the fourth quarter of 2024 that Safello has posted both a net profit and growing equity.
On 24 September, Safello launched a pilot of what it calls crypto checkout – an embeddable solution that lets other companies offer their end-customers the ability to buy and transfer crypto assets directly within an existing customer flow. The service is offered under Safello's MiCA authorisation, with the end-customer becoming a Safello customer through the company's standard KYC process. Integration runs through Safello's API, without the partner company needing to build its own crypto-asset capability.
The pilot is being run together with an external partner and is integrated on Safello's own platform bitcoin.se. It initially covers the Swedish market, and is designed to generate data on volume, conversion and customer behaviour ahead of a decision on further development and broader rollout. According to Schuil, development for the first partner is complete, and the service is about to go live.
Schuil describes the quarter as a single data point rather than a confirmed turnaround, and has set the company its own bar of three profitable quarters in a row. Safello says it continues to work with partners on setting up a new institutional offering, and that it continues serving Swedish authorities under an existing framework agreement. The number of shareholders stood at 2,074 at the end of the quarter, down from 2,157 at the end of June.
Sources: Safello
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