By Tim Alper
The Spanish central bank will roll out its new registration process for crypto exchanges operating in the nation by October.
Exchanges have been in limbo since April this year, when parliament passed a new law aimed at tackling the spread of money laundering and terrorist financing. The law states that the central Bank of Spain must create a central registry for crypto exchanges operating in Spain, and issue operating permits.
A similar system already exists in nations such as Japan and Singapore, but the bank had been given six months to formulate its protocols.
The media outlet El Pais reported that the bank now “expects” to publish details of the instructions and forms required on its website in “September or October.” The provisions will also apply to Spanish crypto wallet and custody-related firms.
Exchanges and other crypto firms will then be given until January 22 next year to complete the application process. After this point, the bank will become the official supervisory body for crypto exchanges and wallet providers.
The bank has unveiled scant details of its plans for the sector thus far, but has indicated that registration will be conditional on providers ensuring they have “adequate” anti-money laundering protocols in place. The media outlet added that exchanges will also need to meet “commercial and professional” compliance requirements.
Spains crypto sector is growing fast, with domestic trading platforms like Criptan expanding to overseas markets, including Latin America.
However, the crypto sector is still smarting from the parliamentary approval earlier this summer of a controversial new law that will force Spaniards to declare their overseas crypto holdings – tokens held on exchanges based outside Spanish territory – and pay tax on their holdings.
However, earlier in the year there was cause for celebration when the markets regulator, the National Securities Market Commission (known in Spain as the CNMV) approved in principle the idea of allowing companies to hold tokens such as bitcoin (BTC) on their balance sheets