Spain Sees 56% Surge in Registered Cryptocurrency Companies in 2023

The number of cryptocurrency companies formally registered to function in Spain increased by nearly 56% in the year 2023. The official registry on the website of Spain’s central bank, in the form of an Excel document, awarded thirty businesses a license to operate as virtual asset service providers in the year 2023.

With a little more than a week left until the end of the calendar year, the number of 53 firms that were added to the registry in 2022 is still higher than the number that was added in 2023. However, this might be because the registry was initially established in 2022.

Twenty-three years ago, the registrar welcomed a number of international platforms, including Revolut, Bitpanda, Crypto.com, and Vivid, among others.

Despite the recent announcement that Coinbase has obtained an anti-money laundering compliance registration and Kraken has obtained a virtual asset service provider registration, there are still several major names that are not included in the list.

Domestic enterprises continue to have 61 licenses out of 85, making them the dominant players in the market. Regulatory authorities in Spain have recently adopted a proactive attitude with regard to the cryptocurrency sector.

In October, six months before the deadline, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation announced its implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation enacted by the European Union.

The National Securities Market Commission (NSMC) initiated its initial legal action against a technology provider in November, alleging that the company had violated applicable crypto promotion regulations in the country.

In the same month, the Spanish Tax Administration Agency introduced Form 721, a tax disclosure form for digital assets held outside of Spain.

In addition, the government issued warning notifications to a total of 328,000 individuals after they failed to pay their cryptocurrency taxes for the fiscal year 2022. The number of notices has increased by forty percent compared to the previous year, 2021.