Bulgaria Curated

DeFi Intel Research Desk2026-07-14Europe

Is crypto legal in Bulgaria? (2026)

Yes — cryptocurrency is legal in Bulgaria. Current status: Legal — MiCA in force via CAMA (8 Jul 2025). Oversight sits with FSC (CASPs & ART issuers); BNB for e-money tokens. Full details — governing law, licensing, tax and dated enforcement history — follow below (last reviewed 2026-07-14).

Framework: MiCA (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114), directly applicable, transposed by the national Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (CAMA / ZPKA), promulgated State Gazette No. 54 of 4 July 2025 and in force since 8 July 2025; EU Transfer of Funds Regulation (EU) 2023/1113; DORA (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554); and AML obligations under the Measures Against Money Laundering Act.

Unlike neighbouring Poland — where the MiCA implementing statute has been vetoed and no domestic licence can be granted — Bulgaria transposed the regime cleanly and on schedule. The National Assembly adopted the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act on 20 June 2025; it was promulgated in State Gazette No. 54 on 4 July 2025 and entered into force on 8 July 2025. The Act designates the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC — Komisia za finansov nadzor) as the national competent authority for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) and for issuers of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs). The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) supervises issuers of e-money tokens (EMTs), which under MiCA must be credit institutions or electronic-money institutions. The same Act gives domestic effect to the EU Transfer of Funds Regulation and the operational-resilience regime under DORA.

CAMA equips the FSC with far-reaching supervisory and enforcement powers: it may suspend or withdraw authorisations, impose administrative sanctions of up to EUR 15 million or 15% of annual turnover (whichever is higher), block access to non-compliant websites, restrict social-media profiles, block domains and order the takedown of mobile applications used to market crypto-assets unlawfully. Licensing fees are set by the FSC's Ordinance No. 76 of 12 June 2025.

Transitional period and the licensing cliff

Bulgaria opted for the full 18-month MiCA grandfathering window, running to 1 July 2026. Firms already carrying on virtual-asset activity — historically registered in the National Revenue Agency's anti-money-laundering register — could continue operating without a CASP licence until 1 July 2026, or until their MiCA application was granted or refused, whichever came first. Providers that were already registered before CAMA's entry into force had to file a CASP application within three months of that entry into force — that is, by 8 October 2025 — in order to keep the benefit of the transitional regime. Since 1 July 2026 the transition has closed: only firms holding an FSC CASP authorisation, or CASPs authorised elsewhere in the EU and passported into Bulgaria, may lawfully provide crypto-asset services to Bulgarian clients.

Licensing and the CASP market

As of July 2026 only two Bulgaria-domiciled firms hold a direct FSC authorisation as crypto-asset service providers:

• Alaric Securities OOD — Bulgaria's first CASP, whose authorisation the FSC announced on 8 January 2026. Alaric is an established Bulgarian investment intermediary already licensed and supervised by the FSC; its crypto authorisation covers services such as placement of crypto-assets, execution of orders and investment advice on crypto-assets.
• Belayer OOD — licensed on 28 April 2026 as the country's second CASP and its first fully crypto-focused regulated firm (Alaric being a securities intermediary that added crypto services). Operating in the sector since 2017, Belayer is authorised for crypto-asset portfolio management and custody/safekeeping of clients' crypto-assets.

Beyond these two, Bulgarian users are also lawfully served by CASPs authorised in other EU member states and passported in under MiCA. A larger pipeline of domestic applications sits with the FSC, but as of the 1 July 2026 deadline the regulator had granted only these two national authorisations — a slower ramp than the low-tax marketing around Bulgarian CASP licences might imply.

Tax treatment

Bulgaria's headline attraction is its flat 10% tax. For individuals, gains on the sale, exchange or other disposal of crypto-assets are treated as gains from the disposal of financial assets and taxed at the flat 10% personal income-tax rate. The taxable base is the sum of the year's realised gains less the year's realised losses, to which a statutory 10% deduction is then applied — so the effective rate on net annual gains works out to roughly 9%. Crypto-to-crypto exchanges and paying for goods or services in crypto are taxable events (a point of contrast with several EU peers); merely holding crypto is not taxed. Gains are declared on the individual's annual tax return — income from the disposal of financial assets is reported in Appendix 5 — filed with the National Revenue Agency by 30 April of the following year, with supporting records expected to be retained for about five years. Companies pay the flat 10% corporate income tax on crypto gains. The MiCA framework does not change these rules; taxation is governed separately by the personal- and corporate-income-tax acts.

• Capital-gains rate (individuals): 10% flat PIT on net gains from disposal of crypto (financial assets); effective ~9% after the statutory 10% deduction
• Crypto-to-crypto / crypto-for-goods: taxable events
• Corporate income tax: 10% flat
• Filing: annual return (Appendix 5) to the National Revenue Agency by 30 April; no holding-period reduction or exemption

Travel rule applicability

Status: yes — EU Transfer of Funds Regulation, no minimum threshold. As an EU member state, Bulgaria applies Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, which has been directly applicable since 30 December 2024 and which CAMA reinforces at national level. Crypto-asset service providers must attach complete, verified originator and beneficiary information to every crypto-asset transfer, with no de-minimis threshold and no size exemptions. Supervision of Bulgaria-licensed CASPs for travel-rule compliance sits with the FSC; CASPs authorised in another member state and passported into Bulgaria are supervised primarily by their home-state regulator.

Notable enforcement and regulatory events

• 12 January 2023. Bulgarian law enforcement raided the Sofia offices and more than 15 addresses linked to crypto lender Nexo, with over 300 police, prosecutors and State Agency for National Security officers, probing suspected organised crime, money laundering, tax crimes, unlicensed banking and computer fraud.
• January 2023. Prosecutors charged Nexo co-founders and executives in connection with an alleged organised-crime group; Nexo denied wrongdoing and wound down its US operations amid parallel regulatory pressure.
• December 2023. The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office terminated the criminal proceedings against Nexo and its management (reported 22 December 2023), finding no money laundering, tax crime, computer fraud or other offence — noting that crypto-assets were not, at the time, treated as financial instruments under Bulgarian law.
• 24 January 2024. Nexo AG, NDS EOOD and Mirastar EOOD filed an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Bulgaria (Nexo and others v. Bulgaria, ICSID Case No. ARB/24/2), claiming over US$3 billion for the "wrongful and politically motivated" investigation; the case remains pending.
• 20 June 2025. The National Assembly adopted the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act; promulgated in State Gazette No. 54 (4 July 2025); in force 8 July 2025.
• 8 October 2025. Application cut-off — VASPs already registered before CAMA's entry into force had to file their FSC CASP application by this date (three months after entry into force) to retain grandfathering.
• 8 January 2026. The FSC announced Bulgaria's first CASP authorisation, to Alaric Securities OOD.
• 28 April 2026. The FSC licensed Belayer OOD as the second CASP and the first fully crypto-focused regulated firm in Bulgaria.
• 1 July 2026. The 18-month grandfathering ended; only FSC-authorised or EU-passported CASPs may now serve Bulgarian clients.

Public licensed CASP list

Two Bulgaria-domiciled CASPs are FSC-authorised as of July 2026: Alaric Securities OOD (first; announced 8 January 2026) and Belayer OOD (28 April 2026). Both appear in ESMA's EU-wide MiCA registers alongside CASPs authorised in other member states that passport into Bulgaria. Because the FSC's public register is updated as new authorisations are granted, this list should be treated as a snapshot; DeFi Intel mirrors the official FSC/ESMA registers on a quarterly basis and welcomes corrections at research@defi-intel.com.

Comparison to neighbours

Compare Bulgaria crypto regulation with three geographically adjacent jurisdictions:

Doing business in Bulgaria — practical notes

Bulgaria is one of the CEE jurisdictions where a MiCA CASP authorisation can actually be obtained today — the FSC is a functioning competent authority, and the flat 10% personal and corporate income tax is a genuine draw for crypto operators weighing an EU base. That said, the practical picture is more measured than the marketing suggests: only two domestic firms had been licensed by the 1 July 2026 deadline, authorisation requires meeting MiCA's full capital, governance, custody and disclosure requirements, and the grandfathering window that let unlicensed VASPs keep trading has now closed — firms that failed to file by the 8 October 2025 cut-off or obtain a licence must cease operations or passport in from another member state. Fees follow FSC Ordinance No. 76 (12 June 2025). Counterparty diligence should also weigh enforcement risk: the Nexo episode shows that Bulgarian prosecutors are willing to mount large, aggressive investigations (later dropped), and the resulting US$3 billion ICSID claim against the state remains unresolved. Tax compliance (flat 10%, annual return by 30 April) and the EU travel rule apply regardless of where a serving CASP is licensed.

Methodology and sources

This profile was researched and updated by DeFi Intel's research desk on 2026-07-14 from the primary and secondary sources listed below. Claims that could not be verified against a source are omitted or marked pending — we do not republish unverified third-party datasets. Submit corrections and primary-source links to research@defi-intel.com.

Sources

• CMS — Bulgaria adopts the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (adopted 20 June 2025; FSC as NCA, BNB for EMTs; FSC powers and sanctions)
• CMS — BG MiCA Act: licensing, fees and registers (in force 8 July 2025; 8 October 2025 application cut-off; Ordinance No. 76)
• Wolf Theiss — MiCA licensing in Bulgaria (full 18-month grandfathering to 1 July 2026; FSC / BNB competences)
• Mikov & Partners / Lexology — Implementing MiCA in Bulgaria: the Crypto-Asset Markets Act effective 8 July 2025
• BTA (Bulgarian News Agency) — Watchdog issues first MiCA licence in Bulgaria (Alaric Securities, announced 8 January 2026)
• Belayer — Belayer lands MiCA licence (28 April 2026), Bulgaria's first fully crypto-focused regulated player
• CEE Legal Matters — Eversheds Sutherland advises Belayer on its CASP licence in Bulgaria
• economic.bg — Only two Bulgarian companies are FSC-licensed CASPs (as of July 2026)
• Simmons & Simmons — How Bulgaria taxes cryptocurrency and NFTs (flat 10% PIT; base = gains less losses with 10% deduction; crypto-to-crypto taxable; 10% CIT)
• PwC — Bulgaria: individual taxes on personal income (flat 10% rate)
• UNCTAD Investment Policy Hub — Nexo and others v. Bulgaria, ICSID Case No. ARB/24/2 (registered 2024, pending)
• italaw — Nexo AG, NDS EOOD and Mirastar EOOD v. Republic of Bulgaria (ICSID Case No. ARB/24/2)
• The Block — Bulgaria ends investigation into Nexo, finding no criminal activity (22 December 2023)
• The Sofia Globe — Bulgarian law enforcement raids Nexo offices (12 January 2023, 300+ officers)
• EUR-Lex — Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets (travel rule)