A MiCA wind down plan should identify how every customer recovers their assets, who remains responsible and how long the business must keep operating to complete that work.
A company plans to discontinue EU custody and transfer services while a group entity continues in Brazil or Turkey. An independent EU crypto-asset service provider, or CASP, can accept some customers. Others fail onboarding or hold unsupported assets. The recommended approach is to approve transfers customer by customer, establish a lawful route for the remaining holdings and fund the obligations that survive closure.
Licentium's legal support covers the exit plan, customer documentation, receiving-provider arrangements and allocation of continuing responsibilities. The engagement connects the regulatory sequence with the contracts, assets and records needed to implement it.
Define the service being closed
This work is for authorised CASPs, group legal teams and overseas exchanges coordinating an EU service exit. It also supports partial cessation and the maintenance of an ongoing wind-down plan before a closure decision.
MiCA Article 74 applies to providers of the services in Articles 75–79: custody, trading-platform operation, exchange for funds or other crypto-assets, execution of orders and placing. Standalone transfer services under Article 82 are outside that list. Here, custody brings the company within Article 74; transfer, safeguarding and contractual duties still need their own treatment. (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, Arts. 70, 74–79, 82.)
Voluntary cessation, withdrawal of authorisation and insolvency require different decisions. A group reorganisation requires separate analysis of customer-contract succession and regulatory permissions. An eligible financial institution operating under Article 60 also needs a different regulatory route from a CASP authorised under Article 63. Insolvency indicators require an immediate assessment under the relevant national regime. (MiCA, Arts. 59–60, 64, 74.)
Build the exit around four connected workstreams
Establish the regulatory sequence and operating budget
The first output is a service-by-service wind-down and customer treatment plan. It identifies the departing entity, home regulator, affected countries, permissions, customer groups and activities that must remain available. Management receives a sequence for notifications, customer communications, restricted operations and the proposed surrender or reduction of permissions.
An express renunciation engages the Article 64 withdrawal process. Withdrawal can affect particular services, and the provider must have procedures for timely, orderly transfer of customer assets and funds to another CASP. Those provisions do not transfer contracts automatically or create an unlimited permission to continue operating. (MiCA, Art. 64(1)(b), (4), (8).)
National procedures determine the relevant filings and decision process. For a French Article 63 CASP, the plan must address the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) withdrawal procedure and publication requirements. France's rules cannot be assumed to govern another home Member State. (Code monétaire et financier, Art. L54-10-7(IV); AMF General Regulation, Art. 721-4.)
The budget should cover staff, custody, banking, technology, reconciliation, complaints and records for the period actually required. Keep accountable management and essential suppliers in place. MiCA's prudential formula is not a prescribed three-month closure timetable. (MiCA, Arts. 67–68, 73–74; Regulation (EU) 2022/2554, Arts. 28(8), 30(3)(f).)
Reconcile entitlements and authority to instruct
The reconciliation requirements connect customer contracts and position registers with wallets, cash accounts and custody records. They cover pending orders, unsettled trades, fees, withdrawal requests, encumbrances and disputed balances. An aggregate wallet balance does not establish each customer's entitlement.
Identify who may instruct for each account, including corporate signatories, representatives and successors. Resolve conflicting instructions and legal restrictions before release. The evidence should show the outgoing debit, destination, receiving credit and responsibility during any incomplete movement. MiCA requires customer-level custody records, segregation and procedures to return assets or access as soon as possible. (MiCA, Arts. 70, 75(2), (6)–(7).)
Cash needs a separately supported route. Payment services require the relevant authorisation or an authorised third party; a CASP permission alone does not settle that issue. (MiCA, Art. 70(4).)
Document customer choices and receiving-provider acceptance
The documentation package includes customer notices, election forms, transfer instructions and a receiving-provider agreement. It identifies the proposed provider, supported services and assets, fees, interruption risks, response dates, complaint contacts and the consequences of declining or not responding.
Choose the contractual mechanism under the governing law: assignment, novation or termination followed by a new agreement. For French-law contract assignment, a written instrument and customer agreement are required; valid advance agreement can change the steps needed. Release of the outgoing party requires separate attention. Novation is not presumed. (Code civil, Arts. 1216–1216-1, 1329–1330.)
Before a transfer proceeds, confirm the receiving provider's permissions and relevant cross-border notification, its acceptance of the customer and assets, and the required customer agreement and instructions. Preserve mandatory consumer protections and accrued claims. The receiving-provider agreement should allocate failed transfers, reconciliation differences, incident cooperation and liabilities without overriding customer rights. (MiCA, Arts. 59, 65, 75, 82; Regulation (EC) No 593/2008, Art. 6.)
Our article on moving EU crypto customers from a Turkish exchange to a French CASP explains a particular migration. A business exit also needs a funded route for customers who remain outside the transfer.
Allocate the obligations that survive closure
The final schedule names the responsible entity and contact for unresolved balances, complaints, later claims, regulator requests and access to records. It sets retention periods by record category, the event that starts each period, access controls, legal holds and eventual deletion.
MiCA service and transaction records generally require five years' retention, extendable to seven years at the authority's timely request. AML and transfer records have their own periods and triggers. Closing the website supplies no common deletion date. (MiCA, Art. 68(9); Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1140, Art. 2; Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, Art. 26.)
Address customers and assets that cannot move
Separate customers who decline, cannot be reached, fail onboarding or hold assets the receiving provider cannot support. For each group, assess lawful withdrawal, an alternative accepting provider or a properly authorised residual arrangement. Failed due diligence may prevent a transaction or new relationship; it does not justify sending assets to an unverified destination. A missed response deadline alone supplies no authority to confiscate holdings or force a sale. (MiCA, Arts. 70, 75; Code monétaire et financier, Art. L561-8, where French law applies.)
Commercially unsupported assets also differ from legally restricted assets. ESMA's October 2026 opinion expects cessation of services involving non-compliant asset-referenced and e-money tokens. Any narrowly limited residual activity needs assessment against the opinion's conditions and the competent authority's position. An indefinite custody-only arrangement is no automatic solution. (ESMA Opinion ESMA75-113276571-1742, paras. 12–14, 21–27.)
Keep the overseas operation within its own permissions
Customer consent does not authorise a Brazilian or Turkish affiliate to solicit and serve EU customers. MiCA's exclusive-initiative exception is narrow and cannot be created by a contractual disclaimer or a group-directed migration. Check the actual destination and services before proposing them. (MiCA, Arts. 59, 61.)
Origin-country rules matter where the local entity participates. A Brazilian provider returning assets after definitive refusal of authorisation faces a rule requiring transfer, in each customer's name, to institutions eligible to provide virtual-asset services in Brazil and nominated by that customer; a French permission alone does not answer that condition. Turkish surrender has its own customer reconciliation and residual custody procedure. Neither procedure is triggered solely because a separate EU group company closes. (BCB Resolution 519/2025, Art. 18(III); SPK Communiqué III-35/B.1, Art. 51.)
The digital asset licensing service addresses a continuing operation's authorisation requirements. Exit documentation must reflect the permissions actually held.
Information needed to scope the work
Provide:
- The entity chart, authorisations, service and country list, regulator correspondence and proposed closure decision.
- Customer terms, custody arrangements, assignment clauses, notices and acceptance records.
- Customer and asset inventories, reconciliation reports, pending movements, disputes and restricted balances.
- Receiving-provider permissions, onboarding criteria, supported assets and proposed commercial terms.
- AML and Travel Rule procedures, data maps, retention policies, supplier contracts and the remaining operating budget.
The engagement is legal analysis, documentation and coordination. Custody, movement of customer money, insolvency officeholder appointments and reserved local legal work, including legal opinions and representation, require separately qualified or authorised providers. Technical execution remains with the responsible operators.
Questions about a crypto business wind-down
Can everyone move to the chosen CASP?
Only customers and holdings that satisfy the receiving route's legal and operational conditions should enter the transfer. The plan must resolve rejected customers, unsupported assets and incomplete movements before the departing operator removes the functions needed to deal with them.
Does moving within the group remove Travel Rule duties?
No. A transfer of customer crypto-assets does not become a transfer of the group companies' own assets. Allocate collection, verification and secure transmission of the required information, with procedures for missing data. The EU and UK Travel Rule guide explains the broader requirements. (Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, Arts. 2–3, 14–17.)
Can customer records move with the accounts?
Establish the processing basis, notices, recipients and international-transfer route separately from contractual acceptance. The EU's 2026 Brazil adequacy decision covers qualifying recipients subject to Brazil's General Data Protection Law (LGPD); it does not remove other GDPR duties. Access by a separate Turkish affiliate needs the applicable Chapter V mechanism. (GDPR, Arts. 5–6, 13–14, 44–49; Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/179, Art. 1.)
When can the company surrender its permission?
Set the sequence with the home-country procedure and remaining regulated activities. The customer agreement, transfer evidence, unresolved cases and funded arrangements must support the proposed cessation date. An internal board resolution does not itself complete regulatory withdrawal. (MiCA, Art. 64.)
What will management receive?
A service-by-service plan, reconciliation requirements, customer and receiving-provider documents, and a post-exit responsibility and retention schedule. Each should identify decisions, accountable owners, evidence needed before execution and the treatment of unresolved customers.