Guide

CASP licence in Portugal: Banco de Portugal and the CMVM

Updated 2026-10-30

Portugal divides MiCA between two authorities. Knowing which one owns which article tells you who reads which part of your file.

Talk to a specialist Four questions gives you the Annex IV class, the capital and the document list.

Question 1

What is the applicant today?

MiCA has two doors. Firms already holding certain EU authorisations notify under Article 60; everyone else applies under Article 62.

Two authorities, one authorisation

Banco de Portugal: Authorisation, prudential requirements (Article 67), governance (Article 68), outsourcing (Article 73) and orderly wind-down (Article 74).
CMVM: Acting honestly, fairly and professionally (Article 66), safekeeping of clients' crypto-assets and funds (Article 70), complaints (Article 71), conflicts of interest (Article 72), and market abuse under Title VI.

Who holds a CASP in Portugal

The ESMA interim MiCA register of crypto-asset service providers, read on 30 October 2026, shows one entry with Portugal as home member state. It is Bison Bank, S.A., with Banco de Portugal as competent authority, dated 19 May 2026.

Read the register file itself before relying on a count; ESMA updates it as authorities notify.

The file and the transition

The application is the Regulation's: the Article 62 document list and the Annex IV capital. The ESMA statement of 17 April 2026 says the transitional period expires across the EU on 1 July 2026. A firm serving Portuguese clients now needs an authorisation from Portugal or another member state.

When you do not need a Portuguese licence

A provider authorised elsewhere in the Union may serve Portugal through the passport in Article 59(7), after the Article 65 notification, with no physical presence there. The EU licence guide explains it.

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Questions, answered directly

Who issues a CASP license in Portugal?

Banco de Portugal, which Article 2 of Law No 69/2025 makes competent for the authorisation chapter of MiCA's Title V, according to Banco de Portugal's own crypto-assets page. The CMVM supervises conduct, client assets, complaints, conflicts and market abuse.

How many CASPs are authorised in Portugal?

One entry when ESMA's interim MiCA register was read on 30 October 2026: Bison Bank, S.A., dated 19 May 2026, with Banco de Portugal as competent authority.

Sources

This site's own datasets, every figure quoted from its source and dated:

The Authorised Casp Register carries 2 published figures read from 2 sources' own pages, under different breakdowns, so no one range is stated, read 11 November 2026.
The Casp Authorisation Dossier carries 5 published figures read from 1 source's own page, from 2 to 10 year, read 7 November 2026.
The median published figure in the Casp Licensing Adviser Fees is 49,950 EUR across 2 sources' own pages (range 19,900 to 80,000 EUR), read 11 November 2026.
The Casp National Authority Requirements carries 1 published figure read from 1 source's own page, from 40 to 40 working day, read 11 November 2026.

Know your class before you draft anything

Four questions gives you the Annex IV class, the capital and the document list.

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