Crypto and Digital Assets
Licensing, anti-money-laundering, sanctions, marketing, tax reporting, app store and data protection rules for crypto wallets and the services built into them, across the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States and Canada.
What the Practice Covers
We advise businesses that build or run crypto wallets, and services built into wallets, on the rules that decide whether and how they may operate in a given jurisdiction. The work is organised by wallet type (custodial, non-custodial, hardware, shared control, smart-contract and embedded) and by the service the product performs.
- →Licensing and registration, by wallet type and by service
- →Anti-money-laundering duties and the travel rule, including transfers to and from self-hosted addresses
- →Sanctions screening and reporting
- →Consumer protection and the rules on marketing to residents
- →Tax reporting frameworks for crypto-asset service providers
- →App store rules for wallets and exchanges
- →Data protection where it touches wallets
Custody Decides Most Answers
In each of the five jurisdictions we cover, the main licensing line is drawn at custody: whether the provider can move or block the user's assets, alone or with others. A provider that never holds or can rebuild the user's keys is generally outside the custody trigger. Each feature built into the wallet (swaps, bridges, fiat on-ramps and off-ramps, staking, lending) is then read on its own, because a wallet that is only a key store may be out of scope while a feature added to it is in scope. Shared-control and key-recovery designs depend on their facts.
SourcesMiCA Art. 3(1)(17), Recital 83·MLR 2017 reg. 14A·FinCEN FIN-2019-G001
The Seven Layers
Every jurisdiction is read through the same seven layers, so that a product can be compared across markets on one page.
- →Licensing or registration, read by wallet type and by service
- →Anti-money-laundering duties, including the travel rule and transfers to and from self-hosted addresses
- →Sanctions: who may not be served, screening, and reporting
- →Consumer protection and the rules on marketing to residents
- →Tax reporting frameworks for crypto-asset service providers
- →App store rules, which decide distribution whatever the financial law says
- →Data protection where it touches wallets: addresses, on-chain data and erasure
SourcesTransfer of Funds Reg. (EU) 2023/1113·OFAC virtual currency guidance (2021)·DAC8, Dir. (EU) 2023/2226·IRS Form 1099-DA
How an Engagement Starts
Engagements start with the online intake, in the AI and crypto lane. It takes about five minutes. An attorney then runs a conflicts check, and the engagement begins once both sides have signed the engagement letter. Nothing on this page, and nothing in the intake, creates an attorney-client relationship before that letter is signed. Please do not send confidential documents before then.
Jurisdictions
Covered now: the European Union and EEA, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States and Canada. The table shows where the licensing line sits for a wallet in each. Law stated as of September 28, 2026; it is a summary, not advice on any product.
| Jurisdiction | Where the line sits | Custodial wallet | Non-custodial software wallet |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Union and EEAMiCA, Reg. (EU) 2023/1114·Transfer of Funds Reg. (EU) 2023/1113 | Custody under MiCA: safekeeping or controlling, on behalf of clients, crypto-assets or the means of access to them, such as private keys (Art. 3(1)(17)). | Authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider (Art. 59). | Outside: "Hardware or software providers of non-custodial wallets should not fall within the scope of this Regulation" (Recital 83). Bundled features are read separately. |
| United KingdomMLR 2017 reg. 14A·SI 2026/102·FCA regime | In force: registration with the FCA as a "custodian wallet provider" (MLR 2017 reg. 14A(2)). Made, not yet in force: the safeguarding activity (art. 9N), from October 25, 2027. | FCA registration now; FCA authorisation once the new regime commences. | Outside on the wording of reg. 14A(2). Under the new regime the boundary is not yet settled. |
| SwitzerlandFINMA crypto services·FINMA fact sheet, cryptoassets | FINMA's power of disposal: a provider that holds clients' tokens or controls the keys is a financial intermediary. | Affiliation to a self-regulatory organisation (AMLA Art. 14); a banking or FinTech licence where deposits or collective custody are involved. | Not a financial intermediary where the client alone has access to the keys. |
| United StatesFinCEN FIN-2019-G001·31 CFR 1022.380 | Federal money-transmitter status under the Bank Secrecy Act, and state money-transmission licences, assessed separately. | A hosted wallet provider is a money transmitter: FinCEN registration, an AML programme, and state licences. | Not a money transmitter under FinCEN's 2019 guidance; generally outside state licensing as well. |
| CanadaFINTRAC·CSA Staff Notice 21-327 | Registration with FINTRAC as a money services business for dealing in virtual currency (exchange and transfer); provincial securities law where a "crypto contract" arises. | Money services business registration; trading-platform registration where clients trade and the operator holds the assets. | Not a money services business on that activity alone; no crypto contract where assets go to a wallet the platform does not control. |
Next: Singapore, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Australia. These are not yet covered; until they are, questions on them go to local counsel.
Deep Dives
A monthly series, each piece sourced to primary law and dated.
- Custody is the question: why who controls the keys decides the licenceLaw stated as of September 28, 2026
- United States: federal money-transmission guidance and the state licencesLaw stated as of September 28, 2026
- United Kingdom: registration today and the regime to comeLaw stated as of September 28, 2026
Key Questions We Help You Answer
- ?Can our company ever move or block a user's assets, alone or with someone else?
- ?Does our key-recovery feature change the answer?
- ?Which of our in-wallet features needs its own licence or registration?
- ?Where are our users, and how do we reach them?
- ?What does the travel rule require for transfers to self-hosted addresses?
- ?What do the app stores require before they list our wallet?
Project-based legal advice
Scoped engagements on wallet licensing and registration, the travel rule, sanctions, marketing and app store rules, jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
See pricingOnline intake takes about five minutes.
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