Article 70 — Safekeeping of clients’ crypto-assets and funds

In force · Consolidated version of 9 January 2024 · Checked against EUR-Lex on 11 Oct 2026 · Official source

1. Crypto-asset service providers that hold crypto-assets belonging to clients or the means of access to such crypto-assets shall make adequate arrangements to safeguard the ownership rights of clients, especially in the event of the crypto-asset service provider’s insolvency, and to prevent the use of clients’ crypto-assets for their own account.

2. Where their business models or the crypto-asset services require holding clients’ funds other than e-money tokens, crypto-asset service providers shall have adequate arrangements in place to safeguard the ownership rights of clients and prevent the use of clients’ funds for their own account.

3. Crypto-asset service providers shall, by the end of the business day following the day on which clients’ funds other than e-money tokens were received, place those funds with a credit institution or a central bank.

   Crypto-asset service providers shall take all necessary steps to ensure that clients’ funds other than e-money tokens held with a credit institution or a central bank are held in an account separately identifiable from any accounts used to hold funds belonging to the crypto-asset service providers.

4. Crypto-asset service providers may themselves, or through a third party, provide payment services related to the crypto-asset service they offer provided that the crypto-asset service provider itself, or the third party, is authorised to provide those services under Directive (EU) 2015/2366.

   Where payment services are provided, crypto-asset service providers shall inform their clients of all of the following:

   (a) the nature and terms and conditions of those services, including references to the applicable national law and to the rights of clients;

   (b) whether those services are provided by them directly or by a third party.

5. Paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article shall not apply to crypto-asset service providers that are electronic money institutions, payment institutions or credit institutions.

---

Related

• crypto-asset service provider — definition used in this article

• crypto-asset service — definition used in this article

• credit institution — definition used in this article

• electronic money — definition used in this article

Related Level 2 and Level 3

Guidance and Q&A

• ESMA Q&A 2486 — Q&A — Interests earned from client funds [Published Answer Updated]

• ESMA Q&A 2578 — Q&A — Commingling client assets [Answer Published]

• ESMA Q&A 2607 — Q&A — Staking on own account [Answer Published]

• ESMA Q&A 2883 — Q&A — Crypto-asset lending services under MiCA [Answer Published]

• ESMA Q&A 2932 — Q&A — Transient exposure of EU client crypto-assets [Question Published]

• ESMA Q&A 2933 — Q&A — Non-EU entities in signing [Forwarded to EC/Public Consultation/Other]

---

Title V — Authorisation and operating conditions for crypto-asset service providers › Chapter 2 — Obligations for all crypto-asset service providers · ← Article 69 · Article 71 →