The largest American crypto exchange Coinbase has registered with the Bank of Spain as a provider of cryptocurrency services and custodial services. This will allow the company to legally offer its services to clients in Spain.
Registration means that the exchange is anti-money laundering (AML) compliant and will be able to offer a full range of products and services to retail and institutional users in Spain – customers will be able to buy and sell digital assets for euros, trade cryptocurrencies, and store them on the exchange according to current standards.
Coinbase cites survey data according to which almost a third of Spanish residents have a positive view of cryptocurrencies: 29% of respondents believe that cryptocurrencies are the future of finance. The Coinbase team mentioned a Bitnovo study, according to which 60.7% of the country’s citizens are ready to buy crypto assets for long-term investments, and 35.7% for making payments. Cryptocurrencies have become the second most popular payment method in Spain, overtaking bank transfers. In addition, there are currently about 178 blockchain startups operating in the financial services sector in the country.
Nana Murugesan, vice president of global business development at Coinbase, said the exchange is committed to complying with regulatory requirements around the world. Over the past year, the marketplace has registered as a virtual asset service provider (VASP) in Italy , Ireland and the Netherlands. Last year, Coinbase received a license to work with digital assets from the Singapore regulator, and more recently launched a platform in Canada.
In October 2021, the Bank of Spain provided guidelines for cryptocurrency service providers that companies must comply with to avoid breaking laws.
