In 2023, Spain witnessed a 56% surge in registered cryptocurrency companies, as revealed by official data from the Bank of Spain. The year saw 30 firms obtaining licenses to operate as virtual asset service providers, marking a significant uptick in the country's crypto landscape.
While 2023 saw 30 companies registering, 53 were registered in 2022, potentially due to the initial registration opening that year. Notably, prominent international platforms like Revolut, Bitpanda, Crypto.com, and Vivid entered the registry, while some major names, including Coinbase and Kraken, were notably absent.
Despite domestic companies dominating with 61 out of 85 licenses, the cryptocurrency market has been garnering positive attention from Spanish regulators. Spain's Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation announced an early implementation of EU cryptoasset market regulations six months ahead of schedule in October.
Furthermore, regulatory bodies took action, with the National Securities Market Commission initiating a case against a technology provider for breaching cryptocurrency promotion rules. The Spanish tax authority introduced Form 721 for reporting overseas digital assets. Additionally, the agency issued a staggering 328,000 warnings to individuals who hadn't paid cryptocurrency taxes for fiscal year 2022, marking a substantial 40% increase in notifications compared to the previous year.
