Own funds by class of service
Key figure: Own funds, lowest class€50,000
€50,000 for Class 1, €125,000 for Class 2 and €150,000 for Class 3: MiCA Annex IV ties the minimum to the most demanding service you apply for.
Class 1 covers advice, order handling, placing, transfers and portfolio management. Custody or any exchange service moves you to Class 2. Operating a trading platform is Class 3, the top of the scale.
The floor is not the whole test. Article 67 asks for the higher of that amount and one quarter of the previous year’s fixed overheads; a new firm uses its projected overheads for the first twelve months. A lean advisory firm and a custodial exchange therefore end up with very different balance sheets.
A first budget, worked through
Our fee from €30,000 plus Class 1 own funds of €50,000 gives €80,000 before CySEC fees, staff and office. Add €75,000 more in own funds if the plan includes custody, the difference between €125,000 and €50,000.
Why CySEC refuses crypto applications
Key figure: Local registered office requiredYes
Article 63(10) of MiCA gives three grounds for refusal, and each one is about people or substance rather than paperwork: a management body that threatens sound and prudent management, owners of qualifying holdings who fail the suitability test, and an applicant that does not or is unlikely to meet the CASP rules in Title V.
In practice those grounds show up as a director with no crypto or financial services track record, a shareholder whose source of wealth cannot be documented, and a business plan whose projected overheads do not match the own funds on the balance sheet.
An application that is simply incomplete is not refused on day one. CySEC has 25 working days to check completeness and asks for the missing parts; every round of questions adds time on top.
When this applies
The suitability file is personal
Each director and each owner of a qualifying holding supplies CVs, criminal record certificates and proof of the source of funds. We prepare the forms; the evidence itself has to come from them.
Office, directors and staff in Cyprus
Key figure: Local director requiredNo
Company law in Cyprus does not require a local director, but MiCA Article 59 does ask for at least one director resident in the EU, effective management in the EU and a registered office in the Member State where part of the services is provided.
The application describes who runs compliance, who is the money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) and how the AML/CFT, ICT security, custody and complaints policies work. A compliance function that exists only on paper is the gap CySEC finds most easily.
How long a Cyprus crypto license takes
Key figure: Own funds, lowest class€50,000
Our part runs 60–120 working days: scoping the services, the business plan, the policy set and the application pack. CySEC then has 25 working days under MiCA to confirm the file is complete.
After that the full assessment starts, and CySEC publishes no fixed decision time for it. We quote our own working time and do not promise a license date.
Passporting a Cyprus CASP license across the EU
Key figure: Own funds, lowest class€50,000
A CASP authorised in Cyprus serves other Member States by notification to CySEC under Article 65, with no second license in each country. CySEC forwards the notification within 10 working days, and services may start at the latest 15 calendar days after it was submitted.
The notification lists the host countries, the services, the start date and any non-MiCA activities. Local marketing and consumer rules in each host country still apply.
Crypto tax in Cyprus for the company and its owners
Key figure: Corporate income tax15%
A licensed CASP pays 15% corporate income tax on its profit from 1 January 2026. Individuals pay a flat 8% on gains from crypto-asset transactions under the same reform; income from crypto mining is excluded from that rate.
The flat rate concerns personal disposals. Salaries and dividends paid by the CASP to its founders follow the ordinary personal income tax rules.
Bank accounts for a crypto company in Cyprus
Key figure: Business account for a non-resident companyDifficult
Our reference rates a business account for a company with non-resident owners as difficult, and a crypto business model adds enhanced due diligence on top. Banks decide case by case; there is no public list of crypto-friendly banks in Cyprus.
A MiCA authorisation helps the bank’s file, because the owners and the AML framework have already passed CySEC. We prepare the bank application but do not promise any bank’s answer.
Who this is not for
A CASP authorisation costs time and own funds that some projects do not need.
- You only trade or hold your own crypto. No license is needed; your gains are taxed at 8% as an individual.
- You want to offer crypto CFDs or other financial instruments. That is MiFID II business and needs a CIF license.
- You want to issue e-money tokens. That needs an electronic money institution or credit institution license.
- You cannot keep €50,000 of own funds on the balance sheet at all times, or cannot name an EU-resident director.