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Central Bank of Portugal Grants Country’s First Crypto License to a Bank

Bison Bank was authorized on Thursday to offer crypto custodian and trading services in Portugal.

By Marina Lammertyn
Updated May 11, 2023, 5:43 p.m. Published Apr 14, 2022, 9:29 p.m.
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Bison Bank, a Portugal-based financial institution, has received a license from the Portuguese central bank (Banco de Portugal) to operate as a virtual asset service provider (VASP), Banco de Portugal announced Thursday.

  • Bison Bank will create a special business division, Bison Digital Assets, to operate as a virtual asset exchange, according to Portuguese media outlet Sapo.
  • The division is the first entity in Portugal owned by a bank to be authorized by Banco de Portugal to offer custodian and crypto trading services.
  • Bison Bank provides wealth management, depositary and investment banking services to individuals and institutional clients, according to its website. It is owned by a Hong Kong-based Chinese private capital group.
  • In March, Banco do Portugal granted the first full all-categories VASP license to Utrust, a Portugal-based on-chain crypto payments firm.
  • In June, it licensed two cryptocurrency exchanges, Criptoloja and Mind The Coin, to operate as VASPs. The bank also granted a crypto exchange license to Luso Digital Assets.
PortugalCentral Bank of PortugalBanco de PortugalBison BankUtrustLicensing
Marina Lammertyn

Marina Lammertyn is a CoinDesk reporter based in Argentina, where she covers the Latin American crypto ecosystem. She worked at Reuters News Agency and has authored enterprise stories featured in local and international media such as The New York Times. Marina has also written and hosted tech-themed podcasts featured on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, among other platforms. She graduated from the Catholic University of Argentina. She holds no crypto.

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