Largest crypto custodians in Europe

The interim MiCA register names 193 companies in the European Economic Area with permission for the custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients, from global banks to small brokers. This list starts with the companies that publish the largest custody figures, then follows the specialist custodians and the exchanges with custody. Supervisors publish no custody volumes per company, and most published figures cover a whole group worldwide, so the European share of a figure is usually unknown.

A custody bank such as BNY or Clearstream adds crypto to the securities it already holds for funds and banks, and it usually notifies its supervisor under Article 60 of MiCAR instead of applying for a new license. A specialist custodian such as Zodia Custody or Tangany is authorized as a crypto-asset service provider and serves other institutions only. An exchange such as Coinbase or Kraken holds the coins of its own trading customers. A permission from one member state is valid across the EU through the MiCA passport.

BNY is a US bank for custody and asset servicing and reported 62.6 trillion US dollars in assets under custody and administration at the end of June 2026. Its European bank, The Bank of New York Mellon SA/NV in Brussels, entered the ESMA register in July 2026 with permission for the custody, administration and transfer of crypto-assets. BNY supports bitcoin, ether, solana and USDC for European clients and plans to add further crypto-assets and stablecoins.

Coinbase is a US crypto exchange and custodian for retail customers and institutions. Coinbase held crypto-assets and stablecoins worth 294.4 billion US dollars for its customers at the end of March 2026, worldwide and across all its products. In the EU, Coinbase works under a MiCAR authorization from the Luxembourg CSSF, which covers custody and passports the service to Germany and the other member states.

Clearstream is the post-trade business of Deutsche Börse Group and settles and holds securities for banks and fund companies. Clearstream Banking S.A. in Luxembourg entered the ESMA register with crypto custody permission in February 2025 and offers bitcoin and ether custody to institutional clients through the accounts they already hold there. Bloomberg reported that the service reaches about 2,500 clients and uses Crypto Finance, also part of Deutsche Börse Group, as sub-custodian.

CACEIS Bank, the asset servicing bank of Crédit Agricole, received MiCAR authorization from the French ACPR in June 2025 for crypto custody, order transmission and transfers, which replaced its national registrations in France, Spain and Luxembourg. SG-FORGE, the digital asset unit of Societe Generale, holds custody permission from the French AMF and issues the euro stablecoin EURCV. Standard Chartered received a MiCAR authorization and an e-money license in Luxembourg in June 2026 for crypto custody. The bank also backs Zodia Custody, which has held its Luxembourg authorization since December 2025. BBVA notified the Spanish CNMV in March 2025 and provides crypto custody to customers in Spain.

BitGo is a US custodian for institutions and reported about 65.2 billion US dollars in assets on its platform at the end of June 2026, a figure for the whole group. BitGo serves EU clients from Frankfurt through BitGo Europe GmbH, authorized by BaFin. Boerse Stuttgart Digital states more than 5 billion euros in crypto custody, and Tangany in Munich more than 3 billion euros. Among the largest crypto custodians in Germany are also banks such as DZ Bank and DekaBank, which hold crypto for the savings and cooperative banks.

Retail customers in Europe mostly reach custody through an exchange or a broker, which holds the coins in its own wallets. Bitpanda in Vienna reported 7.4 million registered users in Europe at the end of 2025 and holds MiCAR authorizations from Austria, Germany and Malta. Kraken serves EU customers from Ireland, while Bitstamp was the first crypto-asset service provider authorized in Luxembourg. Bitvavo holds its authorization from the Dutch AFM, and more exchanges with MiCAR custody are among the European crypto exchanges.

Swiss crypto banks reach EU clients through companies in Liechtenstein and Austria, because a Swiss license does not passport into the EU. AMINA Bank serves EU clients through AMINA (Austria) AG, authorized by the Austrian FMA in October 2025. Sygnum received a MiCAR authorization for Sygnum Europe AG from the Liechtenstein FMA in June 2026, and Bitcoin Suisse obtained one for its company in Vaduz in the same month. In Switzerland itself, FINMA supervises Sygnum Bank and AMINA Bank as banks, and PostFinance, the bank of Swiss Post, offers crypto trading with Sygnum as partner.

Taurus, Fireblocks, Ripple and Ledger sell custody technology to banks and exchanges and hold no client assets themselves. Taurus in Geneva supplies custody software that banks such as Deutsche Bank run under their own permission. Payment firms and banks sign transactions with the MPC wallets of Fireblocks, while the institution that uses them remains the regulated custodian. Ripple sells custody software to banks, and Ledger builds the hardware signers of Ledger Enterprise. Copper operates ClearLoop, which settles exchange trades while the assets stay in custody, and is registered in Zug with a Swiss self-regulatory organization.

The ESMA MiCA register lists every crypto-asset service provider in the EU, including banks that notified their supervisor under Article 60, and shows which of the ten MiCAR services each company may provide. Custody appears there as the custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients. The register also lists the member states in which a company provides its services through the passport. A custody claim in the marketing of a provider proves nothing until the register confirms it.

No supervisor publishes a ranking of crypto custodians, so the answer depends on the figure used. BNY is the largest custody bank with crypto permission in the EU, with 62.6 trillion US dollars in assets under custody and administration across all asset classes, and Coinbase holds the most crypto for customers, 294.4 billion US dollars worldwide. Among the specialist custodians in the EU that publish a European figure, Boerse Stuttgart Digital states the largest, more than 5 billion euros.

The ESMA register names 193 companies with permission for crypto custody, among them Clearstream, Coinbase, Zodia Custody, BitGo Europe, Tangany and SG-FORGE. France has the most of these companies, followed by the Netherlands and Germany. Banks such as BNY, CACEIS and BBVA appear there after a notification, while specialists and exchanges hold a full CASP license.

Crypto custodians in the UK register with the Financial Conduct Authority for anti-money laundering supervision, because the country is outside MiCAR. From 25 October 2027 custodians and other crypto firms need full FCA authorization, and a registration does not turn into an authorization by itself. Zodia Custody has its head office in London and serves EU clients through its company in Luxembourg, and crypto regulation in the UK sets out the new rules.

Yes, a custodian with a MiCAR permission in one member state can serve clients in Germany after its home supervisor has notified BaFin, without a second license. Coinbase serves German clients from Luxembourg and Kraken from Ireland in this way. The ESMA register shows for each company the member states in which it provides custody through the passport, so a client can check Germany there before signing.