Art. 5 Record-keeping in relation to the safekeeping of clients’ crypto-assets and funds | RTS on record keeping | MiCA

This article focuses on the safekeeping and segregation of client assets, requiring crypto-asset service providers to maintain records that clearly separate each client's crypto-assets and funds from those of other clients and from the provider's own assets.

It connects directly to the broader client asset protection obligations under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, effectively translating those high-level safeguarding duties into specific record-keeping requirements.

The article also sets out a list of what those records must capture, covering everything from client balances to outsourcing arrangements and internal accountability.

Important points:

Maintain records that can distinguish, at any time and without delay, each client's crypto-assets and funds from those of other clients and from your own assets.
Records must be audit-ready and include details of accounts held at credit institutions or central banks, third-party custody arrangements, and outsourced tasks.
Identify internally the named persons responsible for safekeeping client crypto-assets and funds within your organisation.

1. Crypto-asset service providers shall keep records enabling them to distinguish, at any time and without delay, crypto-assets and funds held for one client from crypto-assets and funds held for any other client and from their own assets.
1. Crypto-asset service providers shall maintain their records in a way that ensures that they may be used for auditing purposes as records.
1. Such records shall include the following:
  1. records that readily identify the balances of crypto-assets and funds held for each client;
  2. where clients’ funds are held by crypto-asset service providers in accordance with Article 70(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, details of the accounts in which those funds are held and the relevant agreements between the crypto-assets service provider with the credit institutions or central banks with which the clients’ funds are placed;
  3. details of the accounts opened with third parties holding crypto-assets for the crypto-assets service provider and of the outsourcing agreements with those third parties;
  4. details of third parties carrying out any tasks outsourced in accordance with Article 73 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 and details of the outsourced tasks;
  5. names and functions of persons responsible for the safekeeping of clients’ crypto-assets and funds within the crypto-asset service provider;
  6. agreements that establish client ownership over crypto-assets and funds.

Article 5 Record-keeping in relation to the safekeeping of clients’ crypto-assets and funds

Relevant recitals