In the Young Platform app you have two wallets. They do different things, but the difference that really matters is only one: who holds the keys to your crypto. In the Young Wallet the keys are kept by Young Platform, which holds the crypto for you. In the DeFi Wallet the keys are yours and stay on your device: Young Platform provides the tech infrastructure, but does not hold or control your crypto. This guide explains what this difference entails, in practice and from a regulatory point of view.
Who has the keys
Each crypto is managed via a private key: whoever owns it has the authorisation to execute and confirm transactions.
In the Young Wallet, the key is held directly by Young Platform. This way, if you happen to forget your account password, you can simply reset it to regain access to your funds, since the security of the crypto is not tied to a secret kept only by you.
In the DeFi Wallet, on the other hand, the situation is the opposite. The key is generated when you activate the wallet, is protected by the password you chose personally and is never shared with Young Platform. No operator can therefore use it, transfer your crypto or recover it if you lose it. You can find all the details on key protection, the unlocking procedure and the usefulness of the backup inside the guide Keys, passwords and backup of the DeFi Wallet.
In the app the difference is indicated by tags next to the name of each wallet: CUSTODIAL on the Young Wallet and SELF-CUSTODY on the DeFi Wallet.
What changes from a regulatory point of view
Young Platform S.p.A. is authorised by Consob and the Bank of Italy to operate as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) pursuant to the European MiCAR regulation. The Young Wallet falls under this authorisation: it is a regulated custody service, with the protections that MiCAR provides for clients of authorised providers.
The DeFi Wallet is neither a custody service nor a service regulated by MiCAR: it is software infrastructure with which you operate directly on the blockchain and DeFi protocols. For this reason it does not benefit from the protections that MiCAR reserves for clients of regulated services, including those on the custody of crypto-assets and the complaint handling procedure. Your rights as a consumer and mandatory rules, including anti-money laundering ones, remain valid.
Outside the MiCAR perimeter does not mean less technically secure. It means that no intermediary answers for you: operations take place on third-party protocols that Young Platform does not control, there is no compensation or deposit guarantee system and the consequences of a mistake, for example sending to a wrong address or losing the password, cannot be undone by anyone. The risks are described in the Risk Disclosure and, in simple words, in the guide The risks of the DeFi Wallet.
What you do with one and what you do with the other
The Young Wallet is the access point to the platform: you buy and sell crypto in euros, use Staking and Moneyboxes, deposit and withdraw to external wallets of which you are the owner.
The DeFi Wallet is the access point to the blockchain: you send and receive crypto to any Ethereum address, swap one crypto for another directly on-chain, open lending positions on integrated protocols and also hold tokens that Young Platform does not list.
The two areas can also be recognised by the colour of the buttons: blue when you are operating on the DeFi Wallet, green when the operation is carried out on the Young Platform platform, for example when you buy USDC in euros from the DeFi Wallet.
One thing does not change between the two wallets: transfers to and from the DeFi Wallet remain subject to anti-money laundering regulations. For some operations the app may ask you to declare to whom the destination or origin wallet belongs, and Young Platform can suspend, refuse or delay a transfer when regulations require it.
Moving crypto from one wallet to the other
You can move crypto between Young Wallet and DeFi Wallet from the app, in both directions, but not for all crypto and not in all cases:
- The transfer is possible only for crypto supported on both wallets. Crypto that on the Young Platform Fees and Prices (Young Wallet) page do not appear as deposit- or withdrawal-eligible cannot move from one wallet to the other; from the DeFi Wallet you can still send them to another external self-custody wallet.
- USDC and EURC already in your possession are not transferable in either direction from one wallet to the other. At the time of purchase, you need to select the destination wallet; by starting the procedure from the Add funds section of the DeFi Wallet, the credit will happen directly inside it.
- Each transfer is a blockchain transaction: it involves a network fee and is final once confirmed.
Transfers are in the guides How to move crypto from the DeFi Wallet to the Young Wallet and How to receive crypto on the DeFi Wallet. Minimums, fees and limits per crypto are on the DeFi Wallet Fees and Prices page.
What changes for you
In the DeFi Wallet control and responsibility go together. Specifically: keep your wallet password safe and enable the Google Drive backup, because without them access to your crypto can be lost irreversibly. Check address and network before each send, because no one can undo a confirmed transaction. Do not unlock the wallet, do not enter your password and do not export the keys at anyone's request, even if they present themselves as Young Platform. No operator will ever ask you to do so.