Asset class
Crypto accounts in United States
A crypto position held through a US platform survives on the strength of the custody layer, not on the technology behind the asset. If the platform's terms make it a general unsecured creditor claim rather than a segregated holding, the investor holds a contractual right against an entity, not a claim on specific coins. Whether that claim can be enforced depends on where the platform is incorporated, what its account agreement says, and what records actually exist. None of that is visible from the app.
Register and custody layer
Three different layers can hold the same balance shown on screen: the exchange's internal database, an omnibus wallet controlling many users' funds together, and a segregated on-chain address tied to one account. Each layer answers a different question when performance stops. An internal database entry is a liability of the platform. An omnibus wallet mixes claims from many users against one pool. A segregated address, if it exists and is provable, is closer to a proprietary claim. The account agreement usually states which layer applies, but the wording is often generic and the actual operational practice can differ from the stated one. This is the first thing a file review has to separate, not the balance figure itself.
The document rarely handed over
Investors are shown a dashboard balance. They are rarely given the underlying custody statement: the record showing which wallet, which ledger entry, and which control the platform actually exercised over the asset at the relevant date. Without it, there is no way to tell whether the claim is proprietary or contractual, and no way to establish what happened between the last confirmed balance and the point performance stopped. Platforms are not obliged to produce this document voluntarily, and requesting it directly, before the file has been reviewed, can signal a legal claim is forming before the position is understood.
What belongs in a pre-deal report
A factual report on a crypto position held through a US platform checks, at minimum:
- the custody statement covering the period from the last confirmed balance to the first missed withdrawal or payment
- the account terms in force at the time of subscription, including any later amendments
- the platform's stated legal entity and its jurisdiction of incorporation, as distinct from its marketing brand
- the transfer and wallet history available from the account, where the platform still permits export
- whether any document originating outside the US will need authentication; where it does, the Apostille Convention applies to the US, subject to a declared reservation, from its entry into force on 15 October 1981 [N413]
This is where the file is reviewed before anything is sent to the platform or to a third party claiming to recover it. A paid pre-deal review of platform and frozen account positions establishes which of these points already have answers and which are missing, before any step that could weaken the position is taken.