Finance & Treasury for Crypto Exchanges

Running a crypto exchange is a finance-and-compliance problem as much as a technology one. You are operating a trading platform — the most demanding CASP class under MiCA (the €150,000 capital tier) — while managing customer funds across multiple banks and EMIs, defending banking relationships against de-risking, and proving that on-chain balances reconcile to the cent. HELMS advises on and helps structure that financial backbone so your team can focus on the product.

Where exchanges get stuck — and where we help

Licensing & MiCA/CASP. Operating a trading platform sits in the top CASP tier. We map your authorisation route, capital and Article 67 own-funds position, and the fastest viable jurisdiction. Start with the MiCA Exposure Checker and the CASP Jurisdiction Selector & Cost Estimator; if your transitional window has closed, see the 1 July 2026 deadline.

Banking & treasury redundancy. For an exchange, banking access is existential — we build the multi-bank/EMI redundancy and freeze-contingency from our treasury & banking service, sized for high-volume flows.

Custody & reconciliation controls. A disciplined hot/warm/cold key split, multi-sig or MPC so no single key can move funds, withdrawal whitelists, and daily reconciliation of on-chain balances to the internal ledger — independently reviewed, separate from whoever moves funds.

Operational resilience (DORA). An authorised CASP also carries DORA duties — board-level ICT risk management, incident reporting and a current third-party register; the DORA guide has the detail.

A real finance function. Fractional CFO leadership, budgeting and forecasting, month-end close that ties to bank and custodian statements, and board/investor reporting that holds up under scrutiny.

Why HELMS: senior finance, treasury and regulatory expertise, with legal coordinated through qualified counsel — built for operators, not lawyers — so you get CFO-grade infrastructure without a full-time hire. If you're weighing where to base, our jurisdiction comparisons lay out the trade-offs.

Ready to pressure-test your setup? Book a 30-min call — we'll map the gaps and the fastest fix.