Spain Curated

DeFi Intel Research Desk2026-07-15Europe

Is crypto legal in Spain? (2026)

Yes — cryptocurrency is legal in Spain. Current status: Legal — MiCA in force; transition runs to 1 July 2026. Oversight sits with CNMV (CASPs, other crypto-assets) / Banco de España (EMT-ART issuers). Full details — governing law, licensing, tax and dated enforcement history — follow below (last reviewed 2026-07-15).

Framework: MiCA (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114) + Ley 6/2023, de 17 de marzo, de los Mercados de Valores y de los Servicios de Inversión (LMVSI), which designates the CNMV as competent authority with a Banco de España carve-out for EMT/ART issuers; Ley 10/2010 (AML) for the legacy virtual-currency register.

Spain wired MiCA into national law before the regulation even applied. The LMVSI of 17 March 2023 designates the CNMV as the competent authority for supervising crypto-asset issuance, offering, admission to trading and service providers, and builds the corresponding infringement-and-sanctions regime — "sin perjuicio" of Banco de España, which exercises supervision, inspection and sanction over issuers of e-money tokens and asset-referenced tokens (Art. 251.h LMVSI). The old Banco de España register of virtual-currency exchange and wallet-custody providers, created under the Ley 10/2010 AML law, stopped accepting new entries on 30 December 2024 and is now maintained for information only; registered VASPs may ride out the transition but hold no EU passport.

Spain’s transitional timeline zig-zagged more than any other member state’s. In October 2023 the government announced it would bring MiCA’s application forward by six months, to December 2025 — an announcement never followed by a normative instrument. ESMA’s grandfathering list then carried Spain at 12 months, before Spain changed its communicated period to the full 18 months — the only member state to make such a change in ESMA’s December 2025 update, though Bulgaria and Italy had already extended from 12 to 18 months (and Lithuania from 5 to 12) earlier in 2025: the CNMV’s MiCA FAQ of 15 December 2025 states flatly that "en España el período transitorio finalizará el 1 de julio de 2026." Spain’s tax agency attributes the extension to the low number of providers authorised by end-2025. The CNMV has paired the extra time with a warning: late applications get no leniency and will be assessed with full rigour "even if that means the applicant must cease activity."

A bank-led CASP market

What distinguishes Spain’s licensed market is who got authorised: banks. BBVA took the first Spanish CASP authorisation on 5 March 2025, and on 4 July 2025 opened bitcoin and ether trading and custody to all adult retail customers in Spain through its app — its third crypto market after Switzerland (2021) and Turkey (2023), offered without investment advice and executed customer-initiated. Santander followed through Openbank, which launched in-app crypto trading in September 2025 (bitcoin, ether, litecoin, polygon, cardano, with solana and polkadot added later). Cecabank, Renta 4, Kutxabank and CaixaBank round out the banking cohort, alongside crypto-natives Bit2Me, Criptan, Crossmint, Due Network, Minos Global and Prosegur’s custody arm (see the register list below). Crypto advertising, meanwhile, has been under CNMV control since before MiCA: Circular 1/2022, issued under what is now Article 247 LMVSI, lets the CNMV impose risk warnings on — and demand prior notice of — mass crypto-asset advertising campaigns.

Tax treatment

Crypto disposal gains are "ganancias patrimoniales" taxed in the savings base (base del ahorro) of personal income tax. The brackets for 2025 and 2026: 19% on the first €6,000; 21% from €6,000 to €50,000; 23% from €50,000 to €200,000; 27% from €200,000 to €300,000; and 30% above €300,000 — the top rate rose from 28% to 30% on 1 January 2025 via Ley 7/2024, de 20 de diciembre (this page previously said "19–28%", which is now out of date). Crypto-to-crypto swaps are taxable events (permuta), not just crypto-to-fiat sales. Reporting is layered: holders with more than €50,000 of crypto with foreign custodians must file Modelo 721 between 1 January and 31 March (first applied to FY2023; self-custodied wallets where you control the keys are excluded; Modelo 721 has no bespoke penalty regime, so non-filing falls under the general LGT Art. 198/199 informational-return rules — €20 per undeclared record, minimum €300), while Spanish-registered platforms report user balances and operations to the AEAT annually via Modelos 172 and 173, which the tax agency uses for cross-checking. Crypto also counts toward wealth tax at its 31 December market value, with thresholds and relief varying by region.

• Capital-gains rate: 19% / 21% / 23% / 27% / 30% savings-base brackets (top rate 30% since 2025)
• Taxable events: crypto-to-fiat, crypto-to-crypto swaps, and payments in crypto
• Modelo 721: foreign-custodied holdings over €50,000 — file 1 Jan–31 Mar
• Platform reporting: Modelos 172/173 — balances and operations reported by Spanish platforms

Travel rule applicability

Status: yes — EU Transfer of Funds Regulation, no minimum threshold. Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, which recasts the 2015 funds-transfer regulation and extends the FATF travel rule to crypto-assets, has applied since 30 December 2024: CASPs must collect, verify and retain complete originator and beneficiary information on every crypto-asset transfer, with no de-minimis exemption, in line with the EBA’s Travel Rule Guidelines published 4 July 2024 and applying from the same date. In Spain, CASPs remain subject to ongoing AML supervision by SEPBLAC, the Spanish financial-intelligence unit, alongside CNMV conduct supervision.

Notable enforcement and regulatory events

• 10 January 2022. CNMV Circular 1/2022 on crypto-asset advertising takes effect — risk warnings and prior-notice duties for mass campaigns.
• 26 October 2023. The government (Vice-President Nadia Calviño) announces it will bring MiCA’s application in Spain forward to December 2025 — a plan later abandoned without ever being enacted.
• 30 December 2024. MiCA’s CASP titles and the EU travel rule apply; the Banco de España virtual-currency register closes to new entries and the CNMV formally assumes CASP responsibility.
• 5 March 2025. BBVA receives Spain’s first MiCA CASP authorisation.
• Spring 2025. The AEAT sends 889,000 warning notices about virtual-currency operations in the Renta 2024 campaign (down from 948,000 the previous year) and has signalled a further increase in crypto-related notices for the next campaign — no specific count is confirmed by a primary AEAT source (pending).
• 4 July 2025. BBVA opens bitcoin and ether trading and custody to all adult retail customers in Spain.
• September 2025. Openbank (Santander) launches retail crypto trading in Spain.
• 4–15 December 2025. ESMA’s statement on the end of the MiCA transition is followed by the CNMV’s MiCA FAQ: Spain’s transition confirmed as ending 1 July 2026, with no leniency for late applicants even if they must cease activity.

Public licensed CASP list

Crypto-asset service providers authorised under MiCA with home member state Spain (competent authority: Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV)), per ESMA's consolidated CASP register:

• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA) — authorised 5 Mar 2025 — custody; order execution; transfers
• OPEN BANK S.A. (Openbank) — authorised 24 Jul 2025 — custody; order execution
• CECABANK S.A. — authorised 24 Jul 2025 — custody; reception & transmission of orders; transfers
• Bitcoinforme S.L. (Bit2Me) — authorised 31 Oct 2025 — custody; exchange (fiat & crypto); order execution; placing; reception & transmission of orders; transfers
• RENTA 4 BANCO S.A. — authorised 21 Nov 2025 — custody; reception & transmission of orders; transfers
• KUTXABANK S.A. — authorised 27 Mar 2026 — custody; reception & transmission of orders; transfers
• CAIXABANK S.A. — authorised 27 Mar 2026 — custody; order execution; reception & transmission of orders; transfers
• DUE NETWORK S.L. — authorised 12 Jun 2026 — exchange (fiat & crypto)
• CROSSMINT EUROPE S.L. — authorised 26 Jun 2026 — custody; exchange (crypto–fiat); transfers
• CRIPTAN TRADE, S.L. — authorised 26 Jun 2026 — custody; exchange (fiat & crypto); transfers
• MINOS GLOBAL, S.L. — authorised 30 Jun 2026 — custody; exchange (fiat & crypto); order execution; placing; reception & transmission of orders; transfers
• PROSEGUR CUSTODIA DE ACTIVOS DIGITALES, S.L. (Prosegur Crypto) — authorised 30 Jun 2026 — custody; reception & transmission of orders; transfers
• IQANA TECHNOLOGIES, S.L. — authorised 10 Jul 2026 — portfolio management

Complete register list for Spain (13 entries). Source: CNMV — Relación de Proveedores de Servicios de Criptoactivos (the competent authority's own register), cross-checked against the ESMA interim MiCA register, as of 15 July 2026.

Comparison to neighbours

Compare Spain crypto regulation with three geographically adjacent jurisdictions:

Doing business in Spain — practical notes

New entrants need a CNMV authorisation under MiCA Articles 62–63 (or an EU passport); the CNMV has told applicants to file "con la suficiente antelación" — with enough lead time — because filings that arrive late in the transition will be assessed at full rigour even if the firm must cease activity on 1 July 2026. A legacy Banco de España registration confers no passport and dies with the transition. Distribution in Spain increasingly runs through banks (BBVA, Openbank, CaixaBank, Kutxabank), which compresses the retail opportunity for standalone exchanges. Two corrections to earlier versions of this profile: we removed a claim that the "CNMV issued 14 warnings against unauthorised crypto-marketing firms in 2024" (the CNMV warns against unregistered firms in frequent batches, but we could not verify that specific count or scope), and we corrected "220K Modelo 721 notices" — the sourced figure is 889,000 AEAT warning notices about virtual-currency operations in the Renta 2024 campaign, which are Renta-campaign avisos, not Modelo 721 notices. Mind the tax calendar: Modelo 721 between 1 January and 31 March, Renta between April and June, and platform data already sits with the AEAT via Modelos 172/173.

Methodology and sources

This profile was researched and updated by DeFi Intel’s research desk on 2026-07-15 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

• BOE — Ley 6/2023, de 17 de marzo, de los Mercados de Valores y de los Servicios de Inversión (Art. 251.h designation)
• CNMV — MiCA / crypto-asset regulation page (competence split; Banco de España register closed to new entries)
• CNMV — Preguntas y Respuestas Reglamento MiCA (15 Dec 2025: transition ends 1 July 2026)
• ESMA — List of MiCA grandfathering periods under Art. 143(3) (Spain: 18 months; Bulgaria/Italy 12→18, Lithuania 5→12)
• CNMV — Relación de Proveedores de Servicios de Criptoactivos (register of authorised CASPs, incl. IQANA Technologies auth. 10/07/2026)
• Katten — MiCA cliff-edge risk in Spain mitigated: 12 → 18 months (Dec 2025)
• La Moncloa — Government announces bringing MiCA forward to December 2025 (26 Oct 2023)
• Cuatrecasas — MiCA régimen transitorio: the 12-month plan was never enacted; Spain takes 18 months
• Agencia Tributaria — MiCA explainer (29 April 2026): extension rationale
• Fiscaly — Savings-base IRPF brackets 2025 (top rate 28% → 30%, Ley 7/2024)
• AFcripto — Guide to declaring crypto (Modelo 721, Modelos 172/173, wealth tax)
• SuperContable — Modelo 721 has no bespoke sanction regime; non-filing penalised under general LGT Art. 198/199 (€20 per record, €300 minimum, €20,000 maximum)
• Zarco Asesoría — Renta 2024: 889,000 AEAT avisos for virtual-currency operations
• Vozpópuli — AEAT crypto avisos reached 948,000 the prior campaign (context for year-on-year comparison)
• Finect — AEAT signals more crypto-related warning notices in the next campaign (no primary figure confirmed)
• BBVA — Bitcoin and ether trading and custody for all retail customers in Spain (4 July 2025)
• Santander — Openbank launches cryptocurrency trading service (Sept 2025)
• Global Legal Insights — Spain: blockchain and cryptocurrency laws (SEPBLAC supervision; Circular 1/2022)
• EUR-Lex — Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets
• EBA — Travel rule guidance for transfers of funds and crypto-assets (applying 30 Dec 2024)