Portugal Begins Approving Cryptocurrency Exchanges — Two Licensed So Far

Portugal now has two approved cryptocurrency exchanges. The country’s central bank, the Banco de Portugal, has licensed Mind the Coin and Criptoloja.

• In Portugal, the central bank is responsible for registering entities that intend to act as virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The bank must also ensure that they are in compliance with the legal and regulatory provisions on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT).
• Mind the Coin supports bitcoin, litecoin, and monero. “Buy bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies at our terminals or P2P online,” the company explained.
• Criptoloja, located in the heart of Lisbon, claims to be “the first company, 100% Portuguese, to provide the service for the purchase and sale of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”
• The central bank clarified:

Banco de Portugal’s supervision regarding virtual assets service providers, as determined by Law No 83/2017 of 18 August 2017, is limited to AML/CFT purposes, and does not extend to other areas of a prudential, market conduct or any other nature.

• Entities that must be registered are those providing exchange services, with or without involving fiat currencies.
• In addition, entities providing crypto transfer services and “safekeeping and/or administration of virtual assets or instruments that enable the control, ownership, storage or transfer of such assets, including private encrypted keys,” must also register with the central bank.

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