The ion-pair compound [H2(teta)]2+·[Ni(CN)4] 2-?2H2O (C20H42N8NiO2, teta = meso- 5,7,7,12,14,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane) was synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The crystal belongs to monoclinic, space group P21/n with a = 10.0784(10), b = 9.5411(7), c = 14.1010(14) ?, β = 106.752(2)o, V = 1298.4(2) ?3, Mr = 485.33, Z = 2, Dc = 1.241 g/cm3, μ(MoKα) = 0.778 mm—1 and F(000) = 524. The structure was refined to R = 0.0391 and wR = 0.0870 for 2614 observed reflections with I > 2σ(I). The title compound contains one [Ni(CN)4]2— anion, one protonated macrocyclic tetraamine cation [H2(teta)]2+ and two water molecules. There are multiform hydrogen bonds in the compound to link the different components and stabilize the crystal structure.