Why You Need to Season Bank Accounts Before Crypto Gains Hit #
You bought crypto when Bitcoin was at $15,000. Now it’s at $95,000 and you’re sitting on six figures in unrealized gains. You’re thinking about cashing out some profits. If you wire that money straight into your personal checking account that normally sees $3,000 a month in direct deposits, your bank will lose its mind.
Seasoning means establishing normal transaction patterns before large deposits arrive. Banks use algorithms to monitor accounts for suspicious activity. Those algorithms learn what “normal” looks like for each account. Your personal checking account that handles payroll deposits and bill payments has a pattern. Large crypto proceeds don’t fit that pattern.
When money hits an account that looks wrong to the algorithm, the system flags it for review. That triggers an AML investigation. Anti-money laundering reviews mean your account gets frozen while compliance officers dig through your transaction history, demand source of funds documentation, and essentially treat you like a criminal until you prove otherwise.
This process takes months. Your money sits locked while you submit paperwork explaining where it came from. You provide exchange statements, wallet addresses, transaction histories. The bank’s compliance team moves slowly because they’re covering their own regulatory exposure. Meanwhile, you can’t access your funds. Bills pile up. You can’t make payments. Your financial life stops.
Even if the bank eventually clears you, they might just close your account anyway. Banks can refuse service to anyone. If you look like too much compliance work, they’ll decide you’re not worth the trouble. That’s called debanking, and it’s happening more frequently to people in crypto.
This is why you season accounts before you need them. You open a business bank account through your Wyoming LLC. You run normal business transactions through it. Maybe you pay yourself a modest salary. You cover business expenses. You establish a pattern of legitimate activity over several months.
When crypto proceeds eventually flow into that seasoned account, they don’t trigger alarms. The account already has transaction history. It’s already classified as a business account that handles larger sums. The deposit fits the established pattern instead of breaking it.
LLC structure adds another layer of protection. Business accounts expect larger transactions. They’re designed for revenue deposits that personal accounts aren’t. Compliance teams understand that businesses have irregular income. A $50,000 deposit into a business account looks normal. The same deposit into a personal checking account looks suspicious.
People mess this up by waiting until they have gains to worry about structure. They cash out crypto, dump it into their personal account, and then scramble to fix the mess when the bank freezes everything. By then it’s too late. The damage is done.
Set up the structure now, even if you’re not cashing out today. Get your LLC formed. Open the business bank account at Mercury, Relay, or Axos. Run some legitimate transactions through it. Let it age for six months. When your crypto appreciates and you’re ready to take profits, you have a clean path to move money without triggering compliance nightmares.
The custody piece stays separate. Your actual crypto should sit in proper cold storage like D’Cent hardware wallets. The LLC bank account is just the landing zone for when you convert digital assets back to fiat currency.
Once you’re dealing with substantial assets, managing everything yourself gets complicated fast. Registered investment advisors like Digital Wealth Partners provide fiduciary-level wealth management that understands how crypto fits into your broader financial picture. They handle investment advisory and financial planning while keeping your interests first legally.
When your wealth reaches the point where you’re coordinating multiple entities, planning generational transfers, and managing tax strategy across different asset classes, you need family office services. Digital Ascension Group coordinates multi-generational planning, estate and succession work, tax oversight, and comprehensive financial coordination at the level high-net-worth individuals actually need.
Contact Digital Ascension Group to learn how our family office services can coordinate your complete financial picture.
