Coinbase gets green light from Bank of Spain

Coinbase can offer crypto custody, crypto buying and selling and crypto trading as part of the registration

article-image

rafapress/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Coinbase received registration from the Bank of Spain, allowing it to operate as both a crypto exchange and wallet provider in Spain. 

The registration will allow Coinbase to offer its full suite of services, and marks yet another international move for the US-based company. 

“Most of the world is stepping up to the plate and providing clarity and guidance for the crypto industry,” Nana Murugesan, a business development executive at Coinbase said, citing the company’s virtual asset service provider (VASP) registrations in Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands, plus launches in Singapore and Canada.

“Working with regulators in these jurisdictions is a fundamental step in our strategy to grow internationally and continue our momentum,” he said.

Coinbase praised Europe for “leading the way,” noting it was in the second phase of its international expansion strategy, in a Sept. 6, blog post.

“We see the enactment of clear rules; innovation of more efficient, more accessible products and services; and user trust created through these products and services as our formula for long-term growth,” Murugesan wrote

Coinbase added that it is “committed to helping to update the global financial system and providing more economic freedom and opportunity, and won’t stand idle just because the US is.”

The US-based company told Blockworks in August that it is working with Canadian regulators to be “super active” in Canada.

With the Bank of Spain registration, customers using Coinbase can buy and sell crypto with legal tender, trade crypto, and access custody services.

The Bank of Spain granted Crypto.com VASP registration in June, a move that was seen as the EU country setting itself up as crypto-friendly ahead of the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) rollout that’s expected in December 2024.

A few days after announcing Crypto.com’s registration, Spain also granted Ripio approval to operate in Spain. Ripio is a crypto exchange that also offers products such as a Web3 wallet.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (10).png

Research

Innovations on Aptos’ technical design through Raptr, Shardines, and Zaptos approach near-optimal latency and throughput by unlocking 100% utilization of network resources, with the capacity to settle 260k transactions per second with latencies less than 800ms. The original Move language was revamped with the launch of Move 2, supporting more expressivity in smart contract logic and a scalable ability to interact with high volume datasets. The ecosystem has benefitted from strong asset inflows, now hosting over $1.3B in stablecoins, $450M in bridged BTC, and $530M in RWAs. Activity in the Aptos ecosystem has grown notably over the past year, with monthly application revenue reaching ~$835k and monthly DEX volumes growing to over $5B, both at new all time highs.

article-image

The Stripe-acquired firm has big plans for a streamlined, multi-wallet future

article-image

Both founders of the former crypto lender have now landed in new crypto industry roles

article-image

Bitcoin’s recent peak is a victory lap for curvers left and right

article-image

Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo says institutions are eager to get exposure to tokenization

article-image

Trade isn’t war and prosperity isn’t a contest