The Bank of Spain Establishes a Mandatory VASP Registry

Spain’s Central Bank has officially established the country’s necessary register for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs). Additionally, the bank removed any worries financial institutions had about whether they needed to apply for the registry given their compliance with AML regulations. All organisations and individuals wishing to provide crypto-related services in Spain must register with the registration.

Registry Opened for VASPs

The Bank of Spain has officially established the country’s registration for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), defining its scope and the types of businesses and people eligible to register. According to remarks issued on the Bank of Spain’s Virtual Office, all platforms delivering services in Spain must register, including those that are not physically situated in the country.

Additionally, the Bank of Spain mandated that businesses must register through the internet, while individuals may present required paperwork to the Bank of Spain’s General Registry offices.

The needed documentation is extensive and includes a money laundering and counter-terrorist funding handbook developed by each institution, a risk analysis document, and identity documents for all individuals involved in these activities.

Penalties and Deadline

The legislation imposes severe fines on businesses and persons that fail to register yet continue to operate. Penalties for evading this registration begin at €150,000 (about $175,000) and can reach €10 million (about $11.6 million). Other fines included in the bill, such as failing to register with Spain’s Financial Intelligence Unit, range from €60K to €5 million.

VASPs were originally given until the end of this month to register, but the Bank of Spain delayed the publication of papers outlining the registration procedure and defining who is eligible to apply. However, all parties are now aware that they must register anew even if they already comply with other anti-money laundering procedures.

According to local sources, representatives of banks interested in supplying cryptocurrency-related services to their consumers questioned whether they would have to register in order to do so in the future. While most experts assumed banks were best equipped to do so due to their established compliance requirements, Spain’s central bank debunked this perception when it stated that all businesses would be required to register.

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