CNMV authorisation · MiCA · Spain

One Spanish licence, thirty markets.

A CASP authorisation from the CNMV passports across the whole European Economic Area. Pick what you intend to do below and the capital floor, the timetable and the earliest date you could be operating are drawn for you.

Start here What will you actually do?

Select every service you plan to offer. Capital requirements are set by the heaviest one, not by the number of them.

01Services you intend to provide
02Do you already have a Spanish entity?
Select at least one service to see the requirement.
Minimum own funds —
Earliest you could be operating —
Preparing the file
CNMV review
Operating, 30 EEA states
today
The capital figure is a floor, not the answer. Required own funds are the higher of the amount above or one quarter of your previous year's fixed overheads. A firm with real staff and offices will exceed the floor, sometimes by a wide margin.
Scope the application ↗ Fixed scope and fee before work starts
Indicative only. Capital tiers and review periods come from the MiCA framework and published CNMV practice; your own requirement depends on the final scope of services, your cost base and the completeness of the file. Nothing here is a commitment on timing by us or by the regulator.
01 · Why this became urgent rather than optional

The old registration stopped being a basis to operate.

Since 1 July 2026 a full CASP authorisation from the CNMV is required. The earlier registration with the Banco de España is no longer sufficient, and firms still relying on it are operating without a valid basis rather than inside a grace period.

01
Few licences grantedOnly a handful of firms were authorised by the middle of 2026. The queue is not the problem; the quality of files is.
02
Thin files come backThe CNMV returns incomplete applications rather than curing them. A returned file does not restart at the front of the queue with better odds.
03
Establishment is requiredThe applicant must be a legal person established in Spain, or hold a Spanish branch in the cases where that is permitted for third-country firms.
04
One licence, thirty statesAuthorisation passports across the EEA. You are not licensing for the Spanish market; you are licensing for Europe from Spain.
This is what you are buying
02 · What the file contains

Eight to twelve bundles, and they have to agree with each other.

Applications are not rejected because a document is missing. They are rejected because the business plan describes one company, the governance map describes another and the AML procedure was written for a third.

Programme of operationsWhat you do, for whom, through which flows
Governance and fit and properWho runs it, and whether they survive scrutiny
Own funds and capital evidenceThe floor, or a quarter of fixed overheads
AML and CFT frameworkWritten, and consistent with the flows you described
IT and operational securityIncluding custody arrangements and key management
Business continuity and outsourcingWho you depend on and what happens when they fail
Complaints and conflictsProcedures that match the services selected
Financial projectionsThat reconcile to the overheads driving your capital
03 · Our half and the specialist half

We do not pretend to be a licensing boutique.

A CASP file needs regulatory, AML and IT security specialists. It also needs a Spanish company that exists properly, is governed properly and can evidence substance — and that half is where most foreign applicants lose months before the regulatory work even starts.

What we run

The Spanish side

  • Incorporation, capital structure and the share capital the application has to evidence
  • Directors, powers, NIE and certificates for everyone who must sign
  • Registered office, banking and the operational substance the file describes
  • Tax activation, and the governance record that has to match the programme of operations
  • Coordination with the regulatory team so the two halves describe the same company
What the specialists run

The regulatory file

  • Programme of operations and the CNMV submission itself
  • AML and CFT policy, risk assessment and procedures
  • IT security, custody and key management architecture
  • Fit and proper assessments for the management body
  • Responses to CNMV requests for information during review
Say this out loud when you compare quotes. A firm that offers to do all of the above alone, quickly and cheaply, is describing a file that will come back. The useful question to ask any provider is which parts they run themselves and who does the rest.
04 · Questions

Asked before every engagement.

We are registered with the Banco de España already. Are we covered?

No. That registration was a different and narrower regime, and since 1 July 2026 it is no longer a basis on which to provide services. Holding it does not shorten the authorisation process either, though the documentation you assembled for it is usually a useful starting point.

Can we apply without a Spanish company?

The applicant must be a legal person established in Spain, with a Spanish branch permitted in certain cases for third-country firms. Incorporating is therefore the first step rather than a parallel one, and doing it badly — wrong capital, wrong objects, wrong governance — creates work that has to be undone before the file can go in.

How long does it really take?

Preparing a complete file typically runs three to six months, and CNMV review a further three to nine. The range is wide because both ends depend on the same thing: how complete and how coherent the submission is. Nobody can commit to the regulator's side of it, and a provider who does is selling you something they do not control.

Why Spain rather than Lithuania or Ireland?

Because the licence is the same licence. MiCA is a regulation, the authorisation passports across the EEA, and the substantive requirements do not change with the flag. What changes is cost base, talent availability, the regulator's queue and where your people actually want to live. If your team is in Spain, licensing somewhere else creates a substance problem you will spend years explaining.

What does it cost?

Our side is scoped and fixed before work begins, and depends on the entity structure, the number of individuals requiring certificates and NIE, and whether a branch or a subsidiary is used. The regulatory side is quoted by the specialist team on the services you select. We will not quote a single number for both halves, because that is how projects end up under-resourced on the half that gets your file returned.

The deadline did not move. The queue did.

Scope the application ↗
Fixed scope first · Spanish entity and substance · Regulatory file with specialists