Crypto license in Lithuania

Lithuania has created almost ideal conditions for launching fintech business. The Central Bank supports the development of financial technologies and non-bank payment services. Also created a favorable environment for the development of fintech startups, and simplified the procedure for obtaining licenses. Over the past year, the number of fintech companies has increased by 40%, and the interest in the Lithuanian market is shown by large international players. Although Lithuania does not have a comprehensive legal framework for dealing with cryptocurrencies, it has introduced licensing of cryptocurrency exchange companies and maintenance of cryptocurrency purses, becoming one of the few European Union states, with the procedure of licensing and authorization of the new virtual currency.

In Lithuania, it is possible to obtain two types of licenses to work with cryptocurrency:

  • Crypto Exchange License (Crypto Exchange License). The company or branch of the company, gets the opportunity to engage in the exchange of digital currency, receiving a commission.
  • Crypto Wallet Exchange (Crypto Wallet Exchange) License. In this case, the company or branch of the company can manage client wallets for cryptocurrency storage.

The main feature of crypto license in Lithuania

The Lithuanian Central Bank insists that the activities of traditional financial institutions and cryptocurrency companies be separated. In this case, virtual assets can be in the circulation of traditional market players. Applications for obtaining crypto license in Lithuania can be submitted by companies or subsidiaries of companies that are both residents and non-

In order to prevent the legalization of the proceeds of crime, the activities of crypto operators are controlled by the relevant legal institutions. Board members as well as owners of the company must meet the requirements of impeccable reputation, such as no criminal record and etc.

Companies operating in the cryptocurrency market are required to:

  • all clients must undergo verification and identification;
  • records and records of customer data should be maintained;
  • mandatory introduction of internal control procedures;
  • an officer responsible for compliance with the policy on countering legalization – proceeds of crime (aml policy) must be appointed;
  • reporting to the lithuanian regulator (financial crime investigation service) is mandatory.

Key point of crypto license in Lithuania

Licensing of cryptocurrency companies in Lithuania at the moment is limited to filing an application in the appropriate form to the regulator, appointing an AML specialist and paying the state fee. When authorizing cryptocurrency activities, the Lithuanian regulator does not check the compliance of the company and in 99% of cases the client applying to us for a license gets a favorable result.