A Small Business With Bitcoin on One Person's Wallet: How to Make It the Company's

Say you own a small company or LLC with a handful of employees. You want to put part of the company's cash into bitcoin, or the company already holds some on your hardware wallet, a partner's, or an exchange account opened under one person's login. What worries you is the person, not the price: what happens if they leave, are unavailable for a month, or send to the wrong address.

This page walks through the fix one step at a time. For the full guide, see How to Buy and Hold Bitcoin Through Your Business or LLC.

What's at risk when one person holds the company's bitcoin

A hardware wallet run well is real security, and plenty of people hold bitcoin that way for years. The weak point in this situation is that the company's bitcoin depends on one person. If the device, the seed phrase and the know-how all sit with the founder, the company owns an asset only that founder can move. An exchange account opened under one person's login has the same problem, plus the bitcoin sits with one institution.

Three things can go wrong:

• The person leaves. A partner sells their stake, an employee moves on, and the company has to ask them for access to its own bitcoin.
• The person is unavailable. Illness, travel or a family emergency, and no one else can move funds or even confirm the balance.
• The person makes a mistake. A bitcoin withdrawal can't be reversed once it settles. With one person in charge, no one checks the address before it goes.

None of this is a case against self-custody. It's a case against a company treasury that rests on one person and one device.

Step 1: Decide and document

Before buying, or before moving what the company already holds, put the decision in writing.

• Get approval. In an LLC, the operating agreement names the members or managers who can authorize the purchase. In a corporation, the board does. A short written member consent or board resolution that sets a limit and names who can act is enough for most private companies. It is the first thing an accountant, lender or new partner will ask to see.
• Adopt a short treasury policy. One page: why the company holds bitcoin, the cap, who can buy, who approves a withdrawal, where it's held, and what happens when someone with access leaves. The LLC guide has a sample resolution and a policy outline to adapt with your counsel.

Step 2: Open a business account in the company's name

If the company paid for the bitcoin, it belongs in an account in the company's name, not an owner's personal account. Mixing the two blurs ownership and leaves the company with no control if that owner is no longer around.

Every regulated platform verifies the business first, a process called business verification or KYB. At Onramp, most companies are verified within a business day. The LLC guide lists the documents to have ready.

Onramp has two plans that fit a small company:

• Onramp Business is free to open, with up to 3 users and withdrawal approvals. Bitcoin is held at a qualified custodian.
• Onramp Treasury, built on Multi-Institution Custody, holds the company's bitcoin in a vault in its name, with up to 5 users and up to 2 vaults.

For the problem on this page, Treasury is the fit, because no one at the company holds a key or a device. Three institutions protect your bitcoin. No one of them can lose it, move it, or use it, and nothing moves without your permission.

Multi-institution custody works like a bank vault that needs two keyholders to open: it takes two of the three (Onramp, Tetra Trust, and CoinCover) to move your bitcoin. No hardware wallets, seed phrases, backups, or PINs to manage. The vault is in the company's name and can be verified on-chain at any time. See Onramp for business.

Step 3: Set who can do what

Separation of duties means the person who starts a payment is not the only one who signs off on it. Companies already run cash this way: one person sets up a wire and another releases it.

On Onramp's business accounts, each person gets their own login and a role: owner, admin or view-only. An approval policy puts a second person on withdrawals: one person starts a withdrawal and another person with approval rights signs off. View-only access suits your accountant, a partner or a board member who needs to see the account without being able to move anything.

A workable setup for a company with a handful of employees:

• The owner, who manages users and approves withdrawals.
• A second person who can approve withdrawals, so the company never depends on one login.
• View-only access for the accountant.

On Treasury, every withdrawal from the vault is also verified by video, which usually takes 24 to 48 hours. If someone with access leaves or is no longer around, control follows the company's ownership documented at verification, not one person's device or password. Remove a departing user's access the day they leave, and update the account when owners or officers change.

Step 4: Move the existing bitcoin in

When you activate Treasury, the company's vault is created right away and accepts deposits immediately. Withdrawals open once Tetra Trust finishes its business review, about one business day later.

The move itself is a standard bitcoin transaction. In the Onramp dashboard, select Move bitcoin, then Deposit, and the vault address fills in as the destination. Send from the hardware wallet, or withdraw from the exchange account, to that address. Send a small test amount first, confirm it on a block explorer and in your dashboard, then send the rest. Don't wipe the device or destroy the backup until the old wallet shows zero. There is no fee to receive bitcoin into the vault; the only cost is the network fee the sending wallet pays.

Two things to settle before you send:

• Whose bitcoin it is. If the company paid for it, it's company property on a personal device, and moving it to the company's vault is a transfer between wallets the company owns. That is generally not a sale. If an owner bought it with personal money, moving it into the company can count as a contribution or a sale, so talk to your accountant first.
• Loose ends. Point any exchange withdrawals or payouts that send to the old address to the new vault, and update the treasury policy to describe the new setup.

If the company runs a multisig with Unchained or Casa instead, How to Move Your Company's Bitcoin From Unchained or Casa covers that move.

Step 5: Bring your accountant in early

Talk to your accountant before the first purchase. What applies depends on how the company is set up and how it keeps its books, but three things come up every time:

• How it shows up on the books. Companies that follow US GAAP now record bitcoin at its market value each period, under ASU 2023-08, and the change runs through earnings. Many small companies keep simpler tax-basis books instead, so ask which applies to yours.
• When it's taxed. The IRS treats bitcoin as property. Holding it isn't a taxable event; selling or spending it is. How the gain is taxed depends on whether the company is a single-member LLC, a partnership or a corporation. The LLC guide covers each.
• What to keep. Record the date, amount, price and fees of every purchase so your accountant has the cost basis. Give them view-only access and they can check the vault on-chain themselves.

What a finished setup looks like

• A written member consent or board resolution, and a one-page treasury policy.
• The bitcoin in a vault in the company's name, protected by three independent institutions.
• More than one person with access, and an approval policy that puts a second person on withdrawals.
• View-only access for the accountant.
• No company bitcoin left on one person's device or personal login.
• An accountant who has confirmed how the company books and reports it.

FAQ

What is the best custody for a small business or LLC?

Custody where no one person and no one device can move or lose the company's bitcoin. For a small company that doesn't want to manage keys, that means multi-institution custody in a vault in the company's name, with team approvals on withdrawals. A team with someone who wants to run the setup can hold its own keys in a multisig instead. Best Bitcoin Business Accounts in 2026 compares seven business accounts.

Can the company keep its bitcoin on the owner's hardware wallet?

It can, but the company then depends on one person and one device. If the bitcoin belongs to the company, most accountants and partners will want it in an account in the company's name, with more than one person able to act.

Does anyone at the company hold a key on Onramp Treasury?

No. Onramp, Tetra Trust, and CoinCover each secure a key offline, never on a consumer device, in a 2-of-3 multisig. You never hold a key yourself. Your team works through logins, roles and approvals.

What happens if the person who set up the account leaves?

Control follows the company's ownership documented at business verification, not that person's login. Remove their access, add a replacement, and update the account if the owners or officers changed.

Can we require two people to move the company's bitcoin?

Yes. An approval policy puts a second person on withdrawals: one person starts a withdrawal and another person with approval rights signs off.

Is moving the company's bitcoin into a business account taxable?

Moving bitcoin between wallets the company owns is generally not a sale. Moving bitcoin an owner bought personally into the company can count as a contribution or a sale. Confirm with your accountant before a large transfer.

What does it cost?

Onramp Business is free to open, with 0.85% to buy or sell, and no Onramp trading fee on recurring buys after the first purchase. Onramp Treasury starts at $375 a month or $3,600 a year, plus a $500 onboarding fee when you activate Multi-Institution Custody, with 0.65% to buy or sell. See plans for business.

This page is educational and is not legal, tax or accounting advice. Onramp is not a law firm or accounting practice. Consult your own attorney and accountant before acting.