Spain sees 56% surge in registered crypto firms in 2023

The number of crypto companies officially registered to operate in Spain grew roughly 56% in 2023. According to the official registry, published as an xls document on the website of Spain’s Central Bank,  30 companies were granted a virtual asset service provider license this year. 

With little more than a week to the end of the calendar year, the 53 companies added to the registry in 2022 still look more impressive than this year’s 30 new licensees. However, that could be attributed to the fact that the registry wasn't open before 2022.

This year, the registry saw the addition of several international platforms, such as Revolut, Bitpanda, Crypto.com and Vivid. Some big names are still absent from the registry, despite the recent news about Coinbase securing an Anti-Money Laundering compliance registration and Kraken attaining a virtual asset service provider registration. Domestic companies still dominate the market, holding 61 licenses out of 85.

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Spanish regulators have recently taken an active stance toward the crypto market. In October, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation announced that it would implement the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Act six months before the deadline.

In November, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) opened its first case against a technology provider for violating crypto promotion rules in the country. The same month, the Spanish Tax Administration Agency introduced Form 721, a tax declaration form for virtual assets abroad.

In addition, the Agency sent out 328,000 warning notices to individuals who failed to pay their cryptocurrency taxes for the 2022 fiscal year. This marked a 40% increase in the number of notices compared to the previous year.

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